Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Studs and duds from Week 5 vs. Bears

Stud: Run Defense

The Buccaneers defensive unit came into the game ranked second in the NFL in run defense and they showed exactly why during this game. The Bears struggled to get their running game going throughout the night and it hurt their offense in a bad way. The Bucs defense only gave up 35 yards rushing on Thursday and they were dominant for all four quarters when it came to defending the ground game.

As a team, the Bears only average 2.5 yards per carrying, and starting running back David Montgomery was worse with a 2.9 average. Montgomery only had 29 yards and the Buccaneers kept him bottled up for most of the evening.

Dud: Penalties

The Buccaneers entered Thursday night’s game already as one of the league’s most penalized teams. They did themselves no favors during the game as they melted down at times and were hit with a frustrating 11 penalties against the Bears. The penalties both killed drives on offense and extended drives for their defense.

This was once again a case of the team beating itself with undisciplined plays and behavior. There was one drive for the offense in the third quarter where it felt like the team gave up a sack and/or a penalty for five straight plays. The penalties hurt what had started out as a successful drive ended with a nearly impossible third and 27 which predictably wound up in a punt.