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Greg Auman
NFC South Reporter
From a 4-7 record to division champs and even a playoff win, the Bucs saw the wheels come off in the fourth quarter Sunday, going from a tie game to a 31-23 loss to the Lions at Ford Field.
Tampa Bay, whose defense pitched a shutout two weeks ago to get to the playoffs and held the Eagles to nine points last week, couldn’t pull off the same against a talented Lions offense. Jared Goff threw for 276 yards and two touchdowns, and rookie Jahmyr Gibbs went 31 yards for the go-ahead score in the fourth quarter.
Detroit is headed to the NFC Championship Game next Sunday (6:30 p.m. ET on FOX and the FOX Sports app) for the first time since 1992 and just the second time in the Super Bowl era. The Bucs fought to the end — down 14 in the fourth quarter, Baker Mayfield threw his third touchdown of the game, to Mike Evans with 4:37 left to get back within a score. Mayfield, finishing an impressive comeback season in his first year in Tampa, threw for 349 yards and three scores. In the past two weeks, he has the only 300-yard, three-touchdown passing games in Bucs’ playoff history.
Tampa got the ball back with 1:59 left, needing to go 90 yards for a potential tying touchdown, but Mayfield was picked off by Lions linebacker Derrick Barnes to seal the win.
“It sucks. I feel like my heart just got ripped out,” Mayfield said postgame.
The final result was disappointing, but the Bucs’ turnaround from a 4-7 record to finishing 10-9 was a remarkable finish for a team that some pundits expected to be among the worst in the league. It means Todd Bowles will be back as head coach for a third season, and all expectations are that Mayfield will get a long-term extension to stay as their quarterback.
Mayfield isn’t the only free agent the Bucs will have to make a big decision on. Evans, who has played in Tampa for his entire 10-year career, would be one of the league’s most coveted players at any position if…
Source link : https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nfl/bucs-go-down-fighting-to-lions-whats-next-for-baker-mayfield-mike-evans
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Publish date : 2024-01-21 23:55:25
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