TAMPA, Fla. — It’s been a rocky few weeks for the Buccaneers.
The team lost four straight games coming back from the bye week but bounced back into the win column after their 20-6 victory against Tennessee last weekend.
It was the best way to start the 'third quarter' of the season, and with a 4-5 record, the Bucs’ playoff hopes are still very much alive – thanks to a weak NFC South.
A win against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday will send Tampa Bay back to first place in the division, but that's easier said than done.
“Our mentality right now, I’d say, is control our own destiny-type, a one game at a time mentality," Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield said after the team's practice on Wednesday. "[We need to] continue to get better so we can peak at the right time. Yeah, we would’ve loved to be in a different situation record-wise, but those can all be valuable lessons for the long run right here.
"For us, going up against a good playoff opponent, we need to handle it like that and really just focus on finding a way to win against the 49ers in San Fran and build from there.”
A really good opponent, indeed.
The 49ers are loaded with talent on both sides of the ball. Tampa Bay’s defense will have their hands full dealing with the likes of Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel and George Kittle... just to name a few.
"[Their offense has] a lot more weapons and they’ve got a lot more YAC-yard guys than we’ve faced recently," Bucs head coach Todd Bowles said. "All of them can do a lot of things. We’ve just got to be able to tackle., we’ve got to be where we need to be at the right time. Deebo [Samuel] breaks so many tackles, it’s unbelievable.
"You’ve got to be able to get him down and limit yards per catch and limit him in the run game if you can. He does so many things well, it’s hard to just contain him. You just try to slow him down if you can.”
Mayfield and his offensive line are going to have to be successful against the fifth-best defense in the league.
The 49ers' defense has shown this season they love to put constant pressure on quarterbacks and be very aggressive at the line of scrimmage using players like Nick Bosa, Fred Warner, Dre Greenlaw and the new addition of Chase Young.
“Their defense as a whole has studs all around. [We’ve] got to be clued into their blitz packages and obviously [we] just have to handle the front in general," Mayfield said. "That’s their starting point and it allows for those linebackers that are both studs to play pretty free.
"They’re really good, so we have to expect that they’re going to give us some fits and some challenges on different things. We’ve just got to gameplan and find out ways to stay ahead of the chains.”
The Bucs are 1-3 against teams with a winning record, also causing further concerns if the team can leave the Bay Area with a win.
The 49ers do appear to have a weakness, however.
Similar to the Bucs, San Francisco had a rough past few weeks before their recent win. The team is currently 6-3, but all three losses occurred consecutively from Weeks 6-8.
The 49ers had some injuries on the offensive of the ball, but quarterback Brock Purdy showed the propensity to turn the ball over.
In the span of those defeats, Purdy threw five interceptions and fumbled the ball twice.
“That’s one way [to be them], you either score a lot of points or you make them turn it over," Bowles said. "Hopefully we can get one or the other, or maybe both of them. They’re a very good football team. They don’t have many bad games.
"We’ve got to play a solid football game to give ourselves a chance.”
It’ll be a challenge to keep the 49ers, who are the third-best offense in the league, off the field. But if the Bucs plan to beat the 49ers in a shootout, they’ll need to harness whatever energy they had against Tennessee.
San Francisco averages 28 points per game this season, and Dave Canales’ offense has only put up more than that on one occasion.
An inefficient running game, Mayfield's lack of accuracy on deep balls and slow starts have been some of the reasons for the team's low scoring.
Mayfield said he knows these problems exist, but he’s still convinced the offense is close to reaching its full potential.
"We don’t have to blow people out to win games. We don’t have to score that many points, so as long as take care of the ball [and] stay in manageable downs-and-distances, we should be good. At the same time, we also should be scoring more than 20 [points] each game.
"There [are] definitely a lot of points we have left on the board. It’s knowing that we don’t have to stress or press too much to score too many points, but we definitely have the capability to do it. We need to grow into that and learn that we should be able to score closer to 30 each game.”
PREDICTION
The Bucs will put up a fight against the 49ers, but that's only going to last in the first half. Tampa Bay will still struggle running the ball and San Franscisco's attack will prove too potent for a Bucs defense that is prone to explosive plays, especially on third down. Score: San Francisco 33-10
Kickoff for Tampa Bay’s game against San Francisco is scheduled at 4:05 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 19 inside Levi’s Stadium.
Be sure to watch The Blitz at 8:30 a.m. every Sunday only on 10 Tampa Bay as Sports Director Evan Closky and Sports Anchor David Schiele give you full Bucs coverage leading up to each game.