NFLBy Phillip Bupp on

It wasn’t as high scoring as their Super Bowl meeting but the rematch between Tom Brady and Nick Foles still provided a compelling ending which resulted in Brady losing track of how many downs he had on the final drive. Thinking he had one more down, Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers fell to Foles and the Chicago Bears 20-19.

The Buccaneers got out to an early lead and some may have thought this would be a bit of a runaway. The Buccaneers took the lead on an opening drive field goal and then Brady threaded the needle to Mike Evans for a touchdown to close out the first quarter. Another field goal in the middle of the second quarter put the Bucs up 13-0.

The Bears got things together and they did so before the end of the first half. David Montgomery worked his way into the end zone to cut the margin to six. Then after a Bucs fumble, the Bears had enough time to muster up one more first half drive as Jimmy Graham came up huge for the one-handed touchdown grab.

That was a game changer because the Buccaneers thought they were heading into the locker with a 13-0 lead but in just a span of 1:12, the Bears came back and now the Bucs were behind by one.

The second half was low scoring as the teams traded field goals but the Bears were all fine with that as they regained the lead twice to win by the same one point margin.

Talk of the second half will be centered on Brady’s final drive. The GOAT had dazzled us with last minute game-winning drives throughout the past 20 years and he had 1:13 to march the Buccaneers down into field goal range or the end zone. In other words, this was plenty of time for Brady to show us his magic once again. But on 4th and 5 with 38 seconds left, Brady wasn’t able to complete the pass to Cameron Brate and seemed a bit puzzled afterwards. Brady looked around and held up four fingers and since Ric Flair and Arn Anderson weren’t at the game, I don’t think Brady was signaling for the Four Horsemen.

The mistake proved costly because if Brady knew it was 4th and 5, he probably would’ve checked down to someone closer in order to get the first down. Instead, Brady went deep to get close to field goal range, thinking he had at least one more play to convert the first down.

Converting the first down wouldn’t have guaranteed victory for the Buccaneers but it would’ve made things more interesting. Instead, the Bears have a 4-1 record and have the third highest record in the NFC, despite being half a game behind the undefeated Packers. As for the Buccaneers, the loss moves them to 3-2, which keeps them slightly ahead but given the Saints and Panthers are 2-2, Tampa’s lead in the NFC South may be in danger. Next week, the Bears play the Panthers and the Bucs play the Packers so while these two teams were enemies tonight, they have a rooting interest for each other next week.

About Phillip Bupp

Producer/editor of the Awful Announcing Podcast and Short and to the Point. News editor for The Comeback and Awful Announcing. Highlight consultant for Major League Soccer as well as a freelance writer for hire. Opinions are my own but feel free to agree with them.

Follow me on Twitter and Instagram @phillipbupp

View all posts by Phillip Bupp