Buccaneers vs. Chicago Bears 
LOSS - Tampa Bay Buccaneers 13 Chicago Bears 14
The Bears took the lead for good after Jerry Eckwood's fumble on the Buccaneer two-yard line set up a Vince Evans touchdown. The fumble was one of three committed by Eckwood, although one was called back and the other was recovered by Doug Williams. Eckwood was taken out of the game after the third fumble, which occurred while Eckwood was playing with a separated shoulder. Eckwood was not alone in fumbling, as Kevin House and Jimmie Giles were both stripped of the ball near the goal line, ending two potential game-winning fourth-quarter drives. The Buccaneers still had one last opportunity to win the game, but Al Harris blocked Garo Yepremian's field goal attempt with 40 seconds left.
Ricky Bell reinjured his knee and sat out the second half, while Ray Snell suffered a knee injury.
$6,000 worth of equipment and uniforms were stolen from the Bears' locker room before the game, but play was not affected, as the Bears had two sets of gear.
GAMEDAY BRIEF
OFFICALS
- REFEREE: Gene Barth
- UMPIRE: Tom Myers
- LINE JUDGE: Bob McLauchlin
- HEAD LINESMAN: Jerry Bergman
- BACK JUDGE: J.W. Sanders
- FIELD JUDGE: Fritz Graf
- SIDE JUDGE: Dean Look
SCORING
- BUCCANEERS: 13:07-1Q Jones 33 pass from Williams (Yepremian kick)
- BUCCANEERS: 01:43-1Q Yepremian FG27
- BEARS: 10:14-2Q Evans 6 run (Thomas kick)
- BEARS: 01:34-3Q Evans 1 run (Thomas kick)
- BUCCANEERS: 10:38-4Q Yepremian FG26
STARTERS OFFENSE
- WR: #84 G. Jones
- LT: #75 D. Reavis
- LG: #68 G. Yarno
- C: #50 S. Wilson
- RG: #72 R. Snell
- RT: #73 C. Hannah
- TE: #88 J. Giles
- WR: #81 I. Hagins
- QB: #12 D. Wiliams
- RB: #37 T. Davis
- RB: #42 R. Bell
STARTERS DEFENSE
- LE: #65 D. Stalls
- NT: #76 D. Logan
- RE: #63 L. Selmon
- LOLB: #57 D. Lewis
- LILB: #61 D. Selmon
- WILB: #54 R. Wood
- ROLB: #56 C. Johnson
- LCB: #25 C. Jordan
- RCB: #40 M. Washington
- SS: #33 M. Cotney
- FS: #34 C. Brown
SUBSTITUTIONS
- 1 Yepremian, 16 Blanchard, 20 Colzie, 28 G Davis, 36 Berns, 38 J Davis, 41 Thomas, 43 Eckwood, 46 Reece, 52 Brantley, 55 Brown, 59 Hawkins, 62 Leonard, 74 Sanders, 77 Kollar, 78 Radford, 79 Lewis, 82 Shumann, 86 Obradovich, 89 House
DID NOT PLAY
- 14 Fusina, 69 Austin, 87 Carter
INACTIVE
- none.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING
- BUCCANEERS: Eckwood 14-68, Bell 7-34, T.Davis 2-8, J.Davis 1-5, Berns 1-3, Williams 2-(-1), Jones 1-(-10).
- BEARS: Payton 29-130, Harper 10-32, Evans 6-10, Suhey 1-10.
PASSING
- BUCCANEERS: Williams 29-16-350-2-1.
- BEARS: Evans 31-15-151-2-0.
RECIEVING
- BUCCANEERS: Hagins 4-54, House 3-138, Jones 3-54, Eckwood 2-28, Giles 1-29, Obradovich 1-24, T.Davis 1-17, Berns 1-6.
- BEARS: Payton 4-25, Watts 3-28, Haines 2-49, Williams 2-18, Suhey 2-15, Earl 1-11, Fisher 1-5.
INTERCEPTIONS
- BUCCANEERS: Cotney 1-7, Washington 1-0.
- BEARS: Wilson 1-4, Ellis 1-0.
KICK RETURNS
- BUCCANEERS: G.Davis 3-80.
- BEARS: Williams 4-83.
PUNT RETURNS
- BUCCANEERS: Reece 4-29.
- BEARS: Waterscheid 1-5.
SACKS
- BUCCANEERS: L.Selmon 1-11.
- BEARS: Osborne 1-6
