The 3-5 Tampa Bay Buccaneers hit the road in Week Eight and head towards the prime-time stage, as they are scheduled to take on the 6-2 Chicago Bears on Sunday Night Football on November 8. Both teams are on winning streaks with some very notable outcomes. The Buccaneers have their first set of consecutive wins in 2026 after dispatching division rivals Carolina and Atlanta in old-school fashion, with a remarkable total of 582 rushing yards in those two contests. Most recently, the Buccaneers white-washed the Falcons, 16-0, while running for a franchise-record 324 yards but completing exactly zero passes on a very rainy and windy afternoon. The Bears have won three in a row but are still a half-game behind the Minnesota Vikings in the standings for the ultra-competitive NFC North. The Bears have topped 30 points in each of those three wins as quarterback Caleb Williams has returned from an injury absence to throw four touchdowns, no interceptions and an average of 287 yards per game in that span.
Here are some additional numbers to know about the state of the Buccaneers and their upcoming prime-time tilt with the Bears in Week Nine:
0.91
The EPA allowed per drive by Tampa Bay's defense, according to TruMedia, which is the best mark in the NFL. EPA stands for "expected points added" and it is an advanced metric that reports the value of each individual play based on how much it increases or decreases a team's likelihood of scoring. In this case, if the Buccaneers faced 15 opponent drives in a game they would be expected to allow just under 14 points.
4.44
The interception rate per opponent pass attempt by the Buccaneers' defense, which ranks first in the NFL. The Buccaneers have 12 picks on the season after being the first team in the league to produce a four-interception outing in 2026. Tampa Bay is already just one interception shy of its season-long total from 2025 and on pace for 25.5 of them by season's end, which would be its highest total since 2001. The Buccaneers have not reached the 20-interception mark on defense since 2013. Of course, it's worth noting that the Bears' emerging-star quarterback, Caleb Williams, has only thrown one interception in 158 pass attempts so far this season.
6
The number of games in NFL history in which a team has won despite not completing a single pass. The Buccaneers pulled off that feat in their 16-0 shutout of the Falcons in Week Eight, marking the first such occurrence since 1974, more than a half-century ago. The other four games on the list all occurred in 1950 or earlier.
19
The number of successful field goal attempts for Buccaneers kicker Chase McLaughlin since the start of the season, following his final attempt of 2025 being blocked. That is the most field goals without a miss by any kicker in the NFL through Week Eight and it's the third-longest streak in Buccaneers history.
23.8
The third-down conversion rate allowed by Chicago's defense through Week Eight, which leads the NFL by a healthy margin. No team has finished a season with a third down conversion rate allowed of lower than 24% in the Super Bowl era. Tampa Bay's offense is ranked 19th in third-down success rate, at 38.4%.
64
The number of points the Bears have scored in the last two weeks, as they have defeated in consecutive games the two teams that met in last year's Super Bowl. Chicago topped New England, 30-24, in Week Seven before its dominant 34-17 showing against the reigning-champion Seahawks this past Monday night.
709
The differential between how many rushing yards the Buccaneers have gained so far in 2026 and how many rushing yards they have allowed, by far the widest gap in the league. The team occupying the second spot on the list is the Bucs' upcoming opponent, the Bears, who have rushed for 512 more yards than their opponent. Tampa Bay, which has run for 1,349 yards and allowed 640, have a plus-88.6 yard differential per game, which has only been topped by six teams since 1985. Those six teams averaged 12.33 wins per season.
