Buccaneers vs. Chicago Bears 
LOSS - Tampa Bay Buccaneers 26 Chicago Bears 27
Chicago Bears quarterback Jim McMahon, on the active roster for the first time in the season, came off the bench in the third quarter to rally the Bears past the Buccaneers. He scored a touchdown on a quarterback sneak with six minutes to go, and tied the game with a touchdown pass to Neal Anderson with 1:28 to go.
The Buccaneers allowed seven sacks, but led for most of the game. The Bears were aided by the Buccaneers' poor clock management and their reliance on a conservative offense in the fourth quarter. Perkins denied accusations that they went to a prevent defense and a three-man rush, but admitted that they played too conservatively on defense at the end.
Steve DeBerg threw touchdown passes to Calvin Magee and Jeff Smith on the Buccaneers' first two possessions. On the Bears' next possession, Ron Holmes' hit on Mike Tomczak forced a fumble that was recovered in the end zone by Winston Moss to give the Buccaneers a 20–0 lead. The Bears scored two quick touchdowns in the second quarter, but the Buccaneers extended their lead with two Donald Igwebuike field goals.
With the Bears struggling on offense, McMahon was inserted into the game. McMahon was 12 of 14 for 144 yards and led the Bears to 156 yards of offense in the last two drives, compared with 142 in the first 50 minutes of the game. A win would have tied the Buccaneers with the Bears for first place in the NFC Central.
GAMEDAY BRIEF
OFFICALS
- REFEREE: Ben Dreith
- UMPIRE: Dave Moss
- LINE JUDGE: Dick McKenzie
- HEAD LINESMAN: Norm Kragseth
- BACK JUDGE: Al Jury
- FIELD JUDGE: Dick Dolack
- SIDE JUDGE: Tom Fincken
SCORING
- BUCCANEERS: 09:13-1Q Magee 7 pass from DeBerg (Igwebuike kick)
- BUCCANEERS: 04:47-1Q Smith 28 pass from DeBerg (Igwebuike kick)
- BUCCANEERS: 03:10-1Q Moss endzone fumble recovery (kick blocked)
- BEARS: 12:37-2Q Anderson 38 run (Butler kick)
- BEARS: 09:10-2Q McKinnon 65 punt return (Butler kick)
- BUCCANEERS: 01:56-2Q Igwebuike FG46
- BUCCANEERS: 06:01-3Q Igwebuike FG37
- BEARS: 5:31-4Q McMahon 1 run (kick failed)
- BEARS: 01:28-4Q Anderson 6 pass from McMahon (Butler kick)
STARTERS OFFENSE
- WR: #81 P. Freemen
- LT: #72 R. Taylor
- LG: #79 C. Goode
- C: #60 R. Grimes
- RG: #68 R. Mallory
- RT: #73 R. Heller
- TE: #86 C. Magee
- WR: #87 G. Carter
- QB: #17 S. DeBerg
- FB: #32 J. Wilder
- RB: #35 J. Smith
STARTERS DEFENSE
- LE: #78 J. Cannon
- NT: #94 B. Stensrud
- RE: #90 R. Holmes
- LOLB: #51 C. Washington
- LILB: #58 J. Davis
- RILB: #54 E. Randle
- ROLB: #57 W. Moss
- LC: #29 R. Reynolds
- RC: #22 R. Jones
- SS: #33 B. Kemp
- FS: #20 R. Woods
SUBSTITUTIONS
- 1 Igwebuike, 5 Garcia, 23 Anderson, 24 Tripoli, 25 Howard, 31 Gordon, 36 Futrell, 42 Bartalo, 50 Turk, 52 Brantley, 56 Walker, 59 Murphy, 75 Kellin, 77 Maarleveld, 80 S Holloway, 82 Hall, 83 Miller, 89 Carrier, 93 Sileo, 98 Keys
DID NOT PLAY
- 1 Shula, 14 Testaverde, 61 Jordan
INACTIVE
- 1 Tiffin, 8 Davis, 34 Wright, 39 Austin, 53 Graham, 66 Yarno, 70 Swayne, 74 Powell, 85 G.Taylor, 91 Gant
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING
- BUCCANEERS: Wilder 19-75, Smith 6-26, DeBerg 1-0.
- BEARS: Anderson 6-52, Payton 6-30, McMahon 2-9.
PASSING
- BUCCANEERS: DeBerg 38-23-249-0-2.
- BEARS: McMahon 24-17-195-1-1, Tomczak 10-6-45-0-0.
RECIEVING
- BUCCANEERS: Magee 6-98, Hall 4-32, Wilder 4-7, Smith 3-47, Carrier 2-20, Carter 2-13, Miller 1-16, Freeman 1-16.
- BEARS: Anderson 7-45, Gault 4-67, Morris 3-55, McKinnon 3-25, Boso 2-35, Moorehead 2-13, Payton 2-0.
INTERCEPTIONS
- BUCCANEERS: Woods 1-21.
- BEARS: none.
KICK RETURNS
- BUCCANEERS: Futrell 3-59.
- BEARS: Gentry 5-123, Sanders 1-31.
PUNT RETURNS
- BUCCANEERS: Futrell 2-11.
- BEARS: McKinnon 3-89.
SACKS
- BUCCANEERS: Holmes 2.5-20.5, Cannon 1-7, Keys 0.5-3.5.
- BEARS: Dent 2-21, Wilson 1.5-12, Duerson 1-12, Hampton 1-8, Marshall 1-8, McMichael 0.5-5.
