Bucs hit the bye at 3-6 with a ball-hawking defense, a tired Bucky Irving and the NFC South still in reach

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers enter their Week 10 bye at 3-6, but head coach Todd Bowles is treating the week off as a reset rather than a eulogy. A day after a 27-24 loss to the Chicago Bears on Sunday Night Football, Bowles said the team must take carries off running back Bucky Irving, clean up turnovers and false starts, and decide quickly how to get more out of the passing game. Tampa Bay sits a half game behind Carolina and New Orleans, both 3-5, in the NFC South.

"We have a lot to fight for," linebacker Alex Anzalone said, according to the team's website. "The division is still at reach. We got to go on a run after the Bye Week."

Bowles: Irving needs a lighter load

Irving has carried the offense during Tampa Bay's recent push. He has 111 carries over the last five games, the most by a Bucs back over a five-game span since Doug Martin in 2013, according to Buccaneers.com, and he leads the team with eight total touchdowns while ranking fourth in the NFL in rushing. He ran for 97 yards and two scores on 20 carries in Chicago, a week after his 170-yard day helped the Bucs set a franchise record with 324 rushing yards in a 16-0 win over Atlanta.

Bowles said that pace cannot last for a back listed at 5-foot-10 and 195 pounds.

"I think the bye week for him has come at a perfect time," Bowles said Monday, according to the team. "I don't know if he has the frame to keep up that type of workload."

He called Irving "our bellcow" but added, "We're going to have to take some of the carries off of him." Bowles said the Bucs still have to be wary of keeping Irving upright for the entire season. The team did not say who would absorb the extra work.

The to-do list on offense

The running game has been the offense's engine. The Bucs lead the NFL at 163.9 rushing yards per game and rank first in rushing yardage differential at plus-763, according to the team's statistical review. Since a Week 5 win in Dallas, they have run for 1,051 yards in five games.

The passing game is another matter. Baker Mayfield threw for a season-high 243 yards in Chicago, but he was intercepted twice, including Jaylon Johnson's 67-yard return for a touchdown in the third quarter that Mayfield called "the difference in the game," according to The Associated Press. In the win over Atlanta a week earlier, played in wet conditions, Mayfield did not complete a pass.

Bowles said the staff will self-scout during the bye and examine whether the offense's calls suit its quarterback. "Are we comfortable with the calls that we're calling, that he's comfortable calling and playing with?" he said. "We've got to come to a decision on that and we've got to come to it quick."

He listed turnovers as the top priority, followed by penalties. "I feel like we made progress then we regressed yesterday back to about a month ago," Bowles said. "We can't have five false starts, starting first-and-15." He also said receivers have to hold onto the football.

There is help on the way at receiver: Emeka Egbuka returned in Chicago after missing two games with a foot injury, according to the team. Tez Johnson has become a deep threat, averaging 23.1 yards per catch, the highest in the NFL among players with at least 10 receptions. His 58-yard catch set up Irving's first touchdown Sunday.

A defense taking the ball away

The defense is the reason the season still has a pulse. Tampa Bay intercepted Caleb Williams four times in Chicago, a week after a four-interception game against Atlanta. According to Buccaneers.com, the Bucs are the first NFL team with consecutive four-interception games since the 2017 Baltimore Ravens, and only the second Tampa Bay team in 51 seasons to do it, after the 1981 club.

The Bucs lead the league with 16 interceptions and 21 takeaways. They have held eight straight opponents under 100 rushing yards, including a Bears offense that entered the week ranked second in rushing and finished with 72 yards. Over their last five games they have forced 17 turnovers while running for more than 1,000 yards, a combination the team said no club had managed in a five-game span since the 1985 Bears.

Cornerback Zyon McCollum had two of Sunday's interceptions, giving him four in his last three games. He is the first Buccaneer with an interception in three straight games since Lavonte David in 2013, according to the team. McCollum said he was dropping into his zone, playing a little softer and keeping his eyes on the ball.

"If that is supposedly the best team in the NFL, then what are we?" McCollum said of the Bears, who are 7-2.

Anzalone, a first-year captain who wears the green dot, also has four interceptions, the most by a front-seven player in the league. Cornerback Jacob Parrish leads the NFL with 14 passes defensed, and McCollum is tied for second with 11.

The one worry from Chicago: safety Antoine Winfield Jr. left in the second quarter with an ankle injury, according to the AP. The team had not announced an update on his status as of Tuesday morning.

How close the losses have been

The record hides how narrow the margins have been. Tampa Bay opened 0-4, with three of those losses by six points or fewer, then won three of its next five. Sunday's loss came on Cairo Santos' 38-yard field goal as time expired, after the Bucs had fallen behind 14-0 early and later tied the game at 24 on Irving's touchdown and Mayfield's two-point scramble with 2:51 left.

Kicker Chase McLaughlin has been perfect, making all 22 of his field goal attempts, and leads the NFL with 84 points, according to the team.

The road after the bye

The schedule out of the break is unforgiving. Here are Tampa Bay's next four games, according to the NFL schedule published by ESPN.

The Bucs already beat both of their division rivals they have faced, routing Carolina 43-13 on Oct. 25 and shutting out Atlanta. Four of their final eight games are against NFC South opponents, including two with New Orleans.

What's next

The coaching staff will spend the bye self-scouting and reviewing film. McCollum said the message is to stay together, stay positive and enjoy the time off, but not take the foot off the gas. The Bucs return to game action Nov. 22 at Ford Field in Detroit.