Advertisement

Tampa Bay Gets Its Kicks, Wins : Chicago: Tomczak’s heroics are erased by Buccaneers’ last-play field goal in 32-31 loss.

Share
From Associated Press

Count Donald Igwebuike among the kickers who aren’t fond of windy Soldier Field.

But Igwebuike ignored the wind Sunday and kicked his fourth field goal of the game, a 28-yarder, on the last play Sunday to give the Tampa Bay Buccaneers a 32-31 victory over the Chicago Bears.

“It’s not my favorite place to kick, it’s the last place I like to kick, but I’ll take that last field goal,” Igwebuike said. “All that matters to me is winning.”

Until Igwebuike’s kick, the Bears (6-5) thought they had avenged an earlier defeat to Tampa Bay with a dramatic comeback led by quarterback Mike Tomczak.

Advertisement

Tampa Bay (4-7), which hadn’t won since a 42-35 victory over the Bears on Oct. 8, had a 23-10 lead with under five minutes left when Tomczak, in relief of Jim Harbaugh, threw three touchdown passes to give Chicago a 31-29 lead.

“The fans couldn’t ask for a more exciting fourth quarter,” Tampa Bay Coach Ray Perkins said. “I’m not a fan but I still liked it because we came out on top.”

Tomczak connected on a 58-yard touchdown pass play to Ron Morris that was offset by a 78-yard scoring pass play from Vinny Testaverde to Mark Carrier. Tomczak then hit Wendell Davis on touchdown plays of 26 and 52 yards to put the Bears ahead in the final minutes.

Testaverde brought the Buccaneers back on a final drive by completing four passes for 60 yards, setting up Igwebuike’s winning field goal.

“It’s an extra boost when you beat the Bears twice,” Testaverde said after the Buccaneers did it for the first time in one season, “especially when people said the first game was a fluke.

“Our offense knew what it had to do to get the ball down field on that final drive.”

Testaverde completed 19 of 42 passes for 288 yards with no interceptions.

Tomczak completed six of seven passes for 156 yards, while Harbaugh completed 12 of 24 passes for 126 yards, with three interceptions.

Advertisement

“We made too many mistakes to win,” Chicago Coach Mike Ditka said. “We almost pulled it out at the end and it would have been a great win if we had, but we didn’t.

“We kept taking ourselves out of drives with turnovers and penalties. I blame myself. the mistakes we made early were too much to overcome.”

Advertisement