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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- There was more than the usual buzz in the
Tampa Bay locker room after a victory. A shutout and the most
lopsided winning margin in team history were just part of the
reason.
Michael Jordan was there at the invitation of Warren Sapp, a
week after movie director Spike Lee was on the sideline for the
Buccaneers' season opener. Jordan drew as much attention as the
stars of a 41-0 blowout of the Chicago Bears.
|  | | Ronde Barber's forced fumble on Bears quarterback Cade McNown was one of four first-half turnovers by Chicago. |
"Warren and I are friends who speak to each other by telephone
every other week. I am a big fan of his," Jordan, now the head of
basketball operations for the Washington Wizards, said, admitting
that he was "kind of torn as to who I should be rooting for" with
the Bears also in town.
"Warren calls me all the time to offer advice as to who we
should sign to our basketball team. I have yet to listen to any of
his suggestions or taken his advice."
And the Bucs did nothing to force Jordan off a bandwagon that's
picking up steam.
The defense forced four turnovers to help build a 20-point
halftime lead. Then the offense finally showed signs of
explosiveness in scoring on five of its last seven possessions
after a slow start.
Donnie Abraham intercepted Cade McNown's passes twice to set up
10 points before forcing a fumble that Ronde Barber returned 24
yards for a touchdown. The Bucs finished with five sacks, with Sapp
getting one of them and taking a bow to the crowd.
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TOM DONAHOE'S BREAKDOWN |
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Tampa Bay continued its dominance of Chicago -- the Bears have not scored a touchdown against the Bucs since 1998. The game was characterized by turnovers caused by Tampa Bay's defense, which led to several scoring opportunities.
Bucs quarterback Shaun King had a workmanlike day along with running back Mike Alstott.
Chicago has to be disappointed -- the Bears pride themselves on the explosiveness of their offense but could not get on track this day.
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"Once we got it going, it was a snowball effect," Sapp said.
"It turned into an avalanche."
Barber, a cornerback, finished with five tackles, 2½ sacks and
one forced fumble besides the fumble recovery for a touchdown.
"We haven't won like that in quite a while," Bucs coach Tony
Dungy said. "It is very satisfying ... but we will analyze the
mistakes and not let guys get too excited."
Jordan watched from the box of owner Malcolm Glazer as Tampa Bay
(2-0) extended its streak of holding the Bears without a touchdown
to 14 quarters. Chicago (0-2) has lost six straight in the NFC
Central series.
Shaun King scored on a 3-yard run and threw touchdown passes of
13 yards to Keyshawn Johnson and 58 yards to Jacquez Green before
sitting out the final quarter. He was 10-of-21 for 167 yards and
was sacked twice.
Martin Gramatica kicked two field goals and Mike Alstott
finished Tampa Bay's scoring with a 20-yard run in the fourth
quarter.
McNown was 15-of-29 for 96 yards, and Chicago was limited to 165
yards on offense, much of it in the fourth quarter. The Bears' best
scoring opportunity came on Paul Edinger's 42-yard field goal
attempt that sailed wide right with 6:26 remaining.
"We had a lot of things go wrong. What can you say? It's a
tough one to swallow," McNown said.
"Obviously, Tampa is a good defense. I'm not going to stand
here and say we only beat ourselves. They beat us. ... It's tough
to face a team like that if you're unsure at all. They're 100
percent sure of what they're doing. It's a feast or famine defense,
and they ate a lot today."
The Tampa Bay defense sacked Drew Bledsoe six times and didn't
allow a touchdown for nearly 57 minutes in a season-opening victory
over New England. That performance paled in comparison to Sunday.
Abraham's first interception, on a pass tipped by Sapp, set up a
field goal for a 3-0 lead. The cornerback benefitted again when
another throw deflected off intended receiver James Allen and
Abraham hustled up the left sideline 18 yards to the Chicago 4.
Three plays later, King faked a handoff and circled right end
from the 3 to put the Bucs up 13-0. Abraham's hit on Dez White
after a 6-yard catch forced the fumble that Barber ran back to
build the lead to 20 with 1:17 left in the half.
Until Johnson's third-quarter touchdown catch over Thomas Smith,
the offense contributed little to the Bucs' success. The grab in
the back of the end zone finished a 90-yard drive.
King followed that with his TD throw to Green, who had five
receptions for 104 yards.
After being held to 95 yards in the opening half, Tampa Bay had
152 in the third quarter and finished with 327.
Game notes
The shutout was the first for the Bucs since a 35-0 rout of
Cincinnati in the final game of 1998. The Bears were blanked for
the first time since Dec. 24, 1989 -- a stretch of 161
regular-season and five playoff games -- when they lost 26-0 to San
Francisco ... Tampa Bay's previous largest margin of victory was 38
points (48-10) over Atlanta in 1987 ... Chicago has scored nine
points in the last three meetings between the division rivals ...
McNown led the Bears in rushing for the second straight week,
gaining 49 yards on five attempts.
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ALSO SEE
NFL Scoreboard
Chicago Clubhouse
Tampa Bay Clubhouse
Week 2 wrap-ups
Week 2 infirmary report
TJ's Take on Week 2
Week 2 stats leaders
Prime Time Players
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