The Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ three-game winning streak came to a screeching halt after suffering a 20-19 loss to the Chicago Bears on Thursday Night Football. In the dying seconds of the game, it looked like veteran quarterback Tom Brady was confused over the remaining number of downs that the team had while they were trying to bring the ball down the field for a possible game-winning field goal. But Colin Cowherd, host of “The Herd with Colin Cowherd” on Fox Sports, said the confusion should not be blamed for the loss that dropped the Buccaneers to 3-2.

“Third down, fourth down, confusion. He’s not telling the truth. Who cares? That’s not why they lost. They lost because of 11 penalties and bad pass protection,” said Cowherd, referring to the errors that cost the Buccaneers 109 yards on penalties. Also, Cowherd said the loss came in a short week, days after the Buccaneers erased a 17-point deficit en route to a 38-31 triumph over the Los Angeles Chargers at Raymond James Stadium.

Cowherd says short week affected Buccaneers

“He’s playing quarterback forever, you gonna have a brain fart. It doesn’t happen in Super Bowls, it doesn’t happen in conference championships, it doesn’t happen in big division rival games,” Cowherd said. “It happened on a short week Thursday night, he forgot what down it was.

This game wasn’t about that play,” he insisted, adding that the game was about the outstanding defense by the Bears, who was sacked three times for a loss of 20 yards. With the excellent defense by the Bears, Cowherd said the Buccaneers had no chance without their No. 2 receiver in Chris Godwin, top tight end OJ Howard, and running back Leonard Fournette.

“That’s not the place for Tampa Bay right now is built to win without their second-best receiver, their best tight end and their best running back,” said Cowherd. While Brady had another decent 25-of-41 performance for 253 yards and a touchdown, he sorely missed the services of Godwin, Howard, and Fournette against an excellent Bears defense.

The Buccaneers entered the game as a six-point favorite over the Bears.

Brady disappointed with penalties

After the game, the 43-year-old Brady expressed disappointment over the bunch of penalties that cost the Buccaneers the game. "Well, I think that's, penalties, they're just, they stop drives," said Brady, adding that the team has a lot of work to do. The biggest penalty was the roughing the passer call whistled on outside linebacker Shaquil Barrett, who hit quarterback Nick Foles as he was throwing the ball with the Bears at third-and-19. Luckily for the Buccaneers, a tipped pass by defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh forced the Bears to punt. Brady also stressed that the team must improve on its execution and play a consistent type of football. “We obviously have a lot of work to do,” said Brady.
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