A little unfun fact was brought to my attention by the ever-knowledgeable Greg Auman: Teams that threw 4 or more interceptions in a game had a 2-73 record since 2014. One of those wins for such a team came against the Baker Mayfield-led Browns in 2021.

Now they’re 3-73, as another Mayfield-led squad took another loss on Sunday night despite an opposing team throwing a quartet of picks. The Bucs took a 27-24 loss against the Bears after a walk-off field goal sent the Bucs home sad.

We’ll get to the ramifications of this loss in terms of the Bucs’ chances at winning the division later, but let’s focus on the loss first. Folks might quibble with Todd Bowles’ 4th down decisions, or even his call to just kick a field goal at the end of the first half when the Bucs had the ball on the Bears’ 3 yard line and 3 seconds left.

They might point out the Bucs’ defense getting absolutely ripped to shreds in the first few drives of the game (conveniently ignoring the defense pitching a shutout in the entire second half and only allowing 3 points in the final three quarters).

But let’s set all of that aside, because it’s losing the bigger picture. The Bucs haven’t won a football game this year where Baker Mayfield has thrown for over 50 yards.

Their two wins with him under center have been the silly ground and pound games of the past two weeks, and the third Bucs victory was with backup Jalon Daniels picking apart the Cowboys.

And maybe you can point to offensive coordinator Zac Robinson and his inadequate play calling. To that, I say, both things can be true. Baker Mayfield can be one of the worst quarterbacks in football and Zac Robinson can also be struggling to call passing plays.

And yet, one of those guys just signed an extension where he’s going to be paid $55 million per season for at least the next 2 years.

The other is a replaceable scapegoat who can be just another on a long list of failed playcallers to work with Mayfield.

I don’t mean to be so harsh on the fella, he seems like a nice guy. Doesn’t get into trouble off the field, has a family, the bar is pretty much on the floor here for what constitutes not being a dickhead in the NFL, yet Mayfield clears it.

But it has to be said, because people might only see the final score and think “Oh, well Baker played alright, the defense was just kind of meh,” and that’s obviously not the case.

One of the Bears touchdowns was off of a pick-6 of Mayfield, on a throw where he wasn’t even trying to do too much. It was a simple little curl route over the middle to Cade Otton, a guy who for some ungodly reason led the team in targets despite being a very below average pass catcher.

Because Mayfield threw it so late and made it so glaringly obvious that’s who he wanted to get the ball to (really all game), it became an easy grab and go for Bears corner Jaylon Johnson.

It’s funny, he didn’t complete a pass last week, and yet his passer rating was only 15 points higher for Sunday night’s performance.

Mayfield also got sacked 4 times. Sure, that’s not all his fault, especially with the two coming in the 4th, but there’s still some blame to be shared with quarterbacks when it comes to taking sacks.

Again, I hate to focus so much on him, but he’s one of the biggest reasons they lost this game. I didn’t even mention the first interception he threw, because it was more run-of-the-mill (and less egregious), but yeah, he had another pass picked off in Bears territory.

Luckily in that case it wasn’t run back for a touchdown, so Bears QB Caleb Williams returned the favor on the very next play by lobbing a weird throw into the welcoming arms of Zyon McCollum.

Speaking of that Bucs defense, let’s get a little bit of the good vibes flowing, because they were pretty solid, yet again. They forced 3 other picks and that aforementioned fumble, with one pick leading to that field goal at the end of the half, and the fumble leading to a Bucky Irving touchdown.

The team only had a sack and 5 QB hits, but their 4 interceptions were more than enough to make up for the lackluster start, where they gave up consecutive touchdown drives to begin the game.

So yeah, it was a rough night for QBs in general. But despite Williams throwing 4 interceptions, his team still came away with a victory– sounds like a classic Bucs performance.

And yet, this Bucs squad has the great fortune of playing in the woeful NFC South. The other two squads with 3 wins, the Atlanta Falcons and Carolina Panthers, also managed losses, while the 2-win Saints eked out a home victory in overtime against the Shedeur Sanders-led Cleveland Browns.

So the Pewter Pirates still manage to not only have a legitimate shot at winning the division, but dare I say almost seem like favorites to take home the tainted crown.

They’ve already dispatched the Falcons and Panthers in embarrassing fashion, and the Saints appear poised for another mediocre at best year.

The Bucs also have an incredibly generous remaining schedule. The Detroit Lions are the only opponent remaining with a winning record, the Los Angeles Chargers have yet to win a game, and the Baltimore Ravens have Jacoby Brissett under center.

That’s a lot of winnable games, even for a team with Baker Mayfield as their quarterback.

So, Bucs fans, take solace in the fact that while QB1 is awful and unfortunately not likely going anywhere, it could be worse. They could be in an actual division.

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This article appears in Nov. 05 – 11, 2026.