Buccaneers vs. Bears: Picks, Predictions and Takes

After a slightly extended break having played on Thursday night in Week 6, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (5-1) have returned home to take on the Chicago Bears (3-3) this Sunday.

This will be a battle between a Super Bowl contender and a Bears team that is far from that status now, but hopes to be in the thick of the playoffs sooner rather than later with a young and promising quarterback in Justin Fields leading the way. As Tom Brady is 44 years old and Fields is 22, the age difference between the two starting quarterbacks is the widest in a matchup in NFL history.

The Bucs are an 11.5-point favorite, according to Sports Illustrated Sportsbook, with the over/under set at 47 points. You can find our staff picks and predictions for the game below.

Zach Goodall (6-0): Buccaneers 27, Bears 13

The Bears own the worst offense in the NFL in yards per game and rank No. 30 in points per game. Even against a banged-up Buccaneers secondary, and specifically without its top two running backs, I can't imagine Chicago moving the ball efficiently en route to points against Tampa Bay this weekend. Justin Fields would need to produce the best game of his young career in order to make that happen, and considering he's surpassed 200 passing yards in a game once and has never scored more than one touchdown in a contest, I don't like those odds.

Chicago's defense, however, could be a challenging test for Tampa Bay to overcome. This is, by total yards and scoring, the best defense the Bucs will have faced so far this year - particularly, it is the best passing defense Tom Brady and Co. have met to date in 2021.

Without Antonio Brown and Rob Gronkowski available due to injury, we could see some drives cut short by Tampa Bay and left in the hands of kicker Ryan Succop. That being said, we all know how explosive this Bucs offense is - they're bound to create some big plays and find the endzone on occasion. I don't see any way that the Bears' offense will be able to keep up.

Jason Beede (6-0): Buccaneers 31, Bears 17

Tampa Bay will again be without a number of key players including tight end Rob Gronkowski, wide receiver Antonio Brown, linebacker Lavonte David and cornerback Richard Sherman. Despite these injuries, the Bucs should be more than capable of covering the 11.5-point spread against Chicago.

The Bears own the worst passing offense in the entire league while the Bucs find themselves on the very top. While AB had become a top target of quarterback Tom Brady's as of recent, catching 3 touchdowns in the past two games combined, Brady will turn to another receiver to step his game up.

I expect Tyler Johnson to have a big game filling the gap left behind by Brown.

Defensively I think the Bucs will struggle at first slowing down the passing game of Chicago but eventually Tampa Bay will settle down en route to a two-touchdown victory over the Bears.

Evan Winter (5-1): Buccaneers 24, Bears 17

I don't understand how the Bucs are double-digit favorites in this game. Yes, Chicago struggles on offense (16.3 points per game) and they aren't good on third down, but this Bears defense is still really good. The unit is tied with Minnesota for the league lead in sacks (21) and has allowed the eighth-fewest points per game (20.7) so far this year.

The defense should be able to slow down the offense enough to keep the Bears in the game for the most part, but it will be up to Justin Fields to bring Chicago its fourth win of the year. The Bears can move the ball on the ground, but this Tampa Bay defense has shown that you aren't going to run the ball against them. The rookie quarterback will have to have one of his best games of the year for Chicago to have a shot.

As for the Bucs, they need to contain Fields' running ability like they did Jalen Hurts last week. Tampa Bay will move to 6-1 if it can do that on defense and get the ground game going on offense, while also playing a clean game, of course.

I don't think the Bucs cover, but they definitely get their sixth win of the year this weekend despite missing some key players.

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