Buccaneers vs. Chicago Bears

LOSS - Tampa Bay Buccaneers 00 Chicago Bears 23

A second Monday Night Football appearance saw the Buccaneer defense return to form, but the offense failed to generate any points.

A chance at an early lead was lost when Doug Williams' touchdown pass to Jimmie Giles was called back due to a holding penalty. Williams was held to 9 completions for 89 yards on 28 pass attempts, and was benched early to protect him from injury from the Bears' pass rush, according to coach McKay.

Walter Payton's 133 yards on 28 carries moved him ahead of Gale Sayers as the Bears' all-time offensive leader. Alan Page had a sack, a fumble recovery, an interception, and blocked a field-goal attempt.

Of his team's performance, McKay said afterward that "We set Monday Night Football back 2,000 years".

Both teams entered the game as playoff teams from the previous season who were in two-game losing streaks and saw winning this game as important for staying in the current season's playoff picture, as the Detroit Lions had already taken a two-game division lead.

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GAMEDAY BRIEF

OFFICALS

• REFEREE: Fred Silva
• UMPIRE: Ralph Morcroft
• LINE JUDGE: Jack Johnson
• HEAD LINESMAN: Norm Kragseth
• BACK JUDGE: Jim Kearney
• FIELD JUDGE: Don Orr
• SIDE JUDGE: Dave Hawk

SCORING

• BEARS: 03:03-1Q Payton 1 run (Thomas kick)
• BEARS: 04:04-2Q Williams 13 pass from Phipps (Thomas kick)

STARTERS OFFENSE

• WR: #81 I. Hagins
• LT: #75 D. Reavis
• LG: #64 G. Horton
• C: #50 S. Wilson
• RG: #61 G. Roberts
• RT: #73 C. Hannah
• TE: #88 J. Giles
• WR: #87 L. Mucker
• QB: #12 D. Wiliams
• RB: #42 R. Bell
• RB: #38 J. Davis

STARTERS DEFENSE

• LE: #60 W. Chambers
• NT: #71 R. Crowder
• RE: #63 L. Selmon
• LOLB: #57 D. Lewis
• LILB: #61 D. Selmon
• RILB: #54 R. Wood
• ROLB: #51 D. Nafziger
• LCB: #45 J. White
• RCB: #40 M. Washington
• SS: #25 C. Jordan
• RS: #34 C. Brown

SUBSTITUTIONS

• 6 O'Donoghue, 15 Rae, 16 Blanchard, 27 T Davis, 33 Cotney, 36 Berns, 43 Eckwood, 44 Cesare, 46 Reece, 53 Bonness, 56 Johnson, 69 Austin, 70 Carlton, 74 Sanders, 76 Logan, 77 Kollar, 79 Lewis, 86 Obradovich, 87 Mucker

DID NOT PLAY

• 14 Fusina, 23 Ragsdale, 66 Yarno, 84 Jones

INACTIVE

• none.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING

• BUCCANEERS: Bell 24-80, J.Davis 6-23, Giles 1-(-2), Williams 1-4, Rae 1-2.
• BEARS: Payton 22-77, Williams 16-40, McClendon 8-24, Perrin 1-4, Phipps 1-2.

PASSING

• BUCCANEERS: Williams 19-5-60-4-0, Rae 12-6-98-1-0.
• BEARS: Phipps 15-6-26-0-0.

RECIEVING

• BUCCANEERS: Hagins 4-67, Owens 2-27, Giles 2-20, Obradovich 1-19, Bell 1-16, J.Davis 1-9.
• BEARS: Williams 6-26.

INTERCEPTIONS

• BUCCANEERS: none.
• BEARS: Schmidt 2-16, Fencik 2-14, Ellis 1-21.

KICK RETURNS

• BUCCANEERS: Reece 7-38.
• BEARS: Walterscheid 2-16, Schubert 2-4.

PUNT RETURNS

• BUCCANEERS: Hagins 3-55.
• BEARS: Walterscheid 1-23.

SACKS

• BUCCANEERS: Nafziger 1-9.
• BEARS: Page 1.5-15, Campbell 1-8, Hampton 0.5-4.

Click here to view official GAMEBOOK & play-by-play highlights