The Tampa Bay Buccaneers improved to a conference-best 5-1 record with a 30-19 win over San Francisco, another top NFC contender, in Week Six. Now they head to Detroit for yet another battle for conference supremacy against a Lions team that was 4-1 heading into a Sunday night contest at Kansas City.
Baker Mayfield strengthened his NFL MVP candidacy with another outstanding performance against the 49ers, completing 17 of 23 passes for 256 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. He did that with a depleted pass-catching cast that was already without Mike Evans, Chris Godwin and Jalen McMillan and lost standout rookie receiver Emeka Egbuka at halftime. The Buccaneers' defense racked up six sacks of Mac Jones and both Kindle Vildor and Jamel Dean came up with game-changing interceptions.
The Lions came into Week Six with the NFL's highest-scoring offense, averaging 34.8 points per game during their 4-1 start. Jared Goff, another strong MVP candidate, had completed over 75% of his passes while tossing 12 touchdown passes against two interceptions and compiling a 120.7 passer rating. The Lions' two-headed backfield of Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery had averaged 134.8 rushing yards per game and 4.4 yards per carry, scoring two touchdowns per game. Edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson, back from an injury that cut short his likely Defensive Player of the Year campaign, already had five sacks.
The Buccaneers and Lions have had a spirited rivalry in recent years, meeting three times in the last two seasons, playoffs included. Detroit eliminated Tampa Bay in the Divisional Round of the 2023 postseason but the Bucs got a measure of revenge last September with a 20-16 win in Detroit. This will mark the fifth time in the last seven seasons that the Buccaneers went to the Motor City for a game at Ford Field.
