Buccaneers lose to Minnesota Vikings 16-23

Tampa Bay never trailed by more than a score, moved the ball better than the final margin suggests, and still lost. Minnesota beat the Buccaneers 23-16 at Raymond James Stadium on Sunday, and the difference was not yards, it was two plays Tampa Bay's offense never got a chance to answer: an 86-yard punt return touchdown in the first quarter and a pair of Will Reichard field goals in the closing minutes. The loss drops the Buccaneers to 0-3 to open the season, after a 33-27 defeat at Cincinnati in Week 1 and a 23-19 loss to Cleveland in Week 2.

Key facts

• Minnesota beat Tampa Bay 23-16 at Raymond James Stadium in Week 3, dropping the Buccaneers to 0-3 to start the season.
• Vikings returner Myles Price took a punt back 86 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter, the first points of the game Minnesota did not need its offense to produce.
• Baker Mayfield finished 17 of 34 for 217 yards with one touchdown, a 40-yard pass to Ted Hurst III, and one interception, while facing six sacks.
• Kyler Murray, starting for Minnesota after clearing the concussion protocol, threw for 168 yards and a touchdown but was intercepted once, by A'Shawn Robinson.
• Chase McLaughlin made three field goals for Tampa Bay, but Minnesota kicker Will Reichard matched him and then won the game with two more in the fourth quarter, a 56-yarder and a 43-yarder in the final 3:10.

A game the offense did not lose

By the numbers, this was close to an even fight. Tampa Bay out-gained Minnesota 243 yards to 230 and ran nine more plays, 64 to 55. Neither offense found a rhythm on third down: the Buccaneers converted just 2 of 17 chances, the Vikings 2 of 15. What separated the teams was field position and one backbreaking special teams play.

Minnesota needed only 10:20 of the first quarter to strike, when Reichard hit a 54-yard field goal. Two minutes later, Myles Price took a punt 86 yards to the house, and suddenly the Vikings led 10-0 without their offense having done much of anything. Tampa Bay answered before the quarter was out: Baker Mayfield found rookie Ted Hurst III for a 40-yard touchdown, cutting it to 10-7.

The teams traded scores through the middle two quarters. Chase McLaughlin's 28-yard field goal tied it at 10 early in the second, but Kyler Murray, starting for Minnesota after clearing the concussion protocol, answered right back with a 41-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Addison that made it 17-10 at the half. McLaughlin's second field goal, a 38-yarder, trimmed the gap to 17-13 in the third quarter, and neither team scored again until the fourth.

The fourth quarter that got away

Tampa Bay had one more push in it. McLaughlin drilled a 54-yard field goal with 9:02 left to make it 17-16, the closest the Buccaneers would get. From there, Minnesota's placekicking unit closed the door: Reichard answered with a 56-yarder at the 3:10 mark to push the lead back to 20-16, then added a 43-yarder with 33 seconds on the clock to make it 23-16. Tampa Bay's final possession went nowhere against a Minnesota defense that had also won the turnover battle, forcing two Buccaneers interceptions to one.

The Vikings' six sacks of Mayfield told part of that story. Minnesota came in as the NFL's most frequent blitzing defense, by Pro Football Focus's count, and made good on the reputation, hurrying and hitting Mayfield into a rougher-than-usual day: 17 of 34 for 217 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Backup Jalon Daniels went 0 for 3 with an interception on relief snaps, adding to the turnover total without adding to the scoreboard.

Standout performances

Bucky Irving led Tampa Bay's ground game with 46 yards on 15 carries, and Emeka Egbuka led the Buccaneers with five catches for 62 yards on nine targets. Hurst's touchdown catch was the deepest completion of the game at 40 yards. On defense, Alex Anzalone paced the Buccaneers with five tackles and a sack, and A'Shawn Robinson came up with Tampa Bay's only takeaway, an interception of Murray.

For Minnesota, Jordan Addison's five catches for 90 yards and a touchdown made him the game's leading receiver, and Aaron Jones Sr. added 58 rushing yards on 17 carries. Eric Wilson led all tacklers with 10, and Kyle Van Noy's one and a half sacks headlined a Minnesota pass rush that hit Mayfield all afternoon. Price's 86-yard punt return, on top of 132 kick return yards, made him the special teams story of the day.

What it means

Three games into the season, Tampa Bay has yet to lose because its offense could not move the ball. The Buccaneers have out-gained or matched two of their three opponents and still sit at 0-3, undone this time by a special teams touchdown they never saw coming and a fourth quarter in which Minnesota's kicker simply made every attempt Tampa Bay's defense allowed him. The Vikings loss adds a third different way to lose a close game to a season that already had two, and it leaves Todd Bowles with a short week to find answers before the margin for a slow start disappears entirely.