The Buccaneers' defense has been on a tear in 2026 and the surge continued against the Bears on Sunday Night Football. In the Week Nine clash, the Bucs nabbed five takeaways and four interceptions off Caleb Williams, which put the club in the league lead in both categories with 21 and 16, respectively. Tampa Bay has amassed 13 takeaways over the past three weeks alone – the most in the NFL during that span (Weeks 7-9).
Todd Bowles' unit leads the NFL in rush defense – holding its opponents to just 79.1 rush yards per game – and ranks fourth in yards allowed per game (292.9), 10th in pass defense (213.8), fifth in points allowed by the defense per game (17.4), tied for fifth in fewest opponent offensive touchdowns (15), fourth in first downs allowed per game (16.1), eighth in yards per play (5.0) and ninth in third-down conversion rate (34.5%). On Sunday in prime time, Tampa Bay became the first team to intercept Bears' quarterback Caleb Williams three or more times in a single game across his 40 career games played.
Safety Tykee Smith snagged the first interception of the game for the Bucs in the second quarter, marking his second in 2026 and the fifth of his career. With the Bucs down 14-3, Smith's pick energized the defense and changed the trajectory of the battle, giving the Bucs a chance to trim the deficit. If the Bears had posted a touchdown, the score would have become a nearly insurmountable 21-3, or at the minimum, had Chicago been forced to settle for a field goal, 17-3. Smith helped spark the Bucs' comeback bid in Week Nine as the visiting team rallied from behind.
Prior to the interception play, Smith made an error on the field but the next time he was presented with the same route concept out of a different offensive set, he was ready and plucked the ball from the home team.
"His job on both plays was the exact same," said Safeties Coach Tim Atkins. "He was the deep middle safety and was a different conversion of Cover Three on the two, but his job on both was the same. He learned on the first play and came over and said on the sideline, 'They tried to run the same exact route on me on both plays.' Early in the second quarter they ran a play similar to the one later on the pick. It was a three-by-one, drop back passing, and they tried to get the backside X receiver on the skinny post. To the frontside, they ran a scissors concept. Tykee did not play that one very well because you can see the quarterback is staring at the X receiver and throws to the X. It could have been a touchdown. Thankfully, we had enough pressure where he was just a bit off on the throw."
Smith put the play behind him and moved on, which paid dividends. Later in the quarter as the middle safety, the Bears ran a different two-by-two set but had the same intention: Target the boundary receiver on the skinny post. Smith utilized muscle memory from a drill in practice to effectively read the quarterback, diagnose and make a play on the football.
"It was a two-by-two set but they are still trying to get that lone receiver on that same skinny post because he widens," noted Atkins. "He is two yards inside at the top of the numbers and he stems out to the bottom of the numbers and then goes inside on it. We are initially showing a two-high shell look and rotating down to a safety buzzing into the boundary. We buzzed away from the nickel, which put Tykee in the middle of the field with Winfield as the buzz. Second-and-21 because we had just gotten a penalty, so we are expecting a pass with the longer down and distance. Similar route with the boundary receiver and Tykee does a much better job of being in the middle.
"We have a drill that we do in individual called, 'Man in the middle,' where you are in the middle of the field and the job is to read the quarterback. So, in the drill, TJ Bowles operates as the quarterback, and he sits there and lets them get into a little bit of a backpedal and lets them get into their drop a little bit and he has got to read his shoulders and read the quarterback. So whichever way the quarterback looks, is the way that the deep middle safety then has to break. The goal of the drill is to catch it right about two yards outside of the hash from being in the middle. Just like that drill that we do in individual, he made the play and secured the interception. If you look at the end zone view, he did a really good job. The quarterback is staring right at him and reading him. Some are trained to read the safeties and in a two-high shell, they are taught to read to see if they spin to a single high. If they spin to a single high, then that tells them that it is Cover One or Cover Three for the most part, then that tells them that they can hit the fade but a lot that we see, read safeties first, so he is looking at Tykee. He made a great catch and it energized the defense."
In his third season with the Bucs and second as a full-time starter at safety, Smith has showcased his read-and-react trigger skills, route recognition and vision in coverage. He quickly drives out of his breaks and has been a physical presence. Smith's versatility down in the box or in the post provides strategic and schematic options. He has been an enforcer on the field in 2026, flying to the ball with urgency. His play against the Bears sparked a domino effect inside Soldier Field for the Bucs' defense.
