Baker Mayfield questioned the Chicago Bears’ defensive line after Tampa Bay’s Week 9 loss (Getty Images)
The Buccaneers were flagged for five false starts in the Week 9 defeat, and Mayfield’s comments shifted attention toward Chicago’s tactics.
Baker Mayfield said he could not fully explain why the Buccaneers had so many false starts, stressing that the number was out of character. Baker Mayfield left the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ loss to the Chicago Bears with more than frustration over the result. The quarterback questioned the Bears’ defensive line for what he viewed as activity around the snap that made it harder for Tampa Bay to avoid penalties. But that explanation did not erase the larger issue: Tampa Bay also committed two delay-of-game penalties, giving its offense too many ways to fall behind the chains. He did, however, single out the Bears’ defensive line for allegedly calling out the cadence between snaps.
The Buccaneers still had to manage their own operation. Five false starts are a heavy cost for any offense, regardless of the defense’s tactics. Two delay-of-game penalties added to the damage, turning chances to go for it into field-goal attempts.
Because they’re not right there at the line of scrimmage, so it’s tough for the refs to call that.
“To be honest with you, I don’t know,” said Mayfield on why the team had so many false startse start penalties. He said the penalties were not caused by a communication breakdown, but made clear that Tampa Bay needed to control its movement before the snap. “It wasn’t a communication thing,” Bowles said post-game.
“The last one. I know they’re barking out the cadence. Which you can’t do that. But yeah, I think they called that on Tristan, but that’s, you can’t do that. Head coach Todd Bowles did not follow Mayfield in blaming Chicago. “We just got to hold our water. That difference in tone is worth noting. Mayfield was describing what he believed the Bears were doing; Bowles was judging what his own players could control. The coach did not need to settle whether Chicago’s defenders were trying to draw a reaction. His team had already been penalized, and the result was clear. False starts put the offense behind schedule before a play could develop. Delay-of-game calls then removed options on later downs. Those are separate errors, but together they point to an offense that struggled to get set and execute cleanly.