Bears embarrassed by Buccaneers 29-7

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Buccaneers fans cheer the Bears’ blowout. (AP)

TAMPA, Fla. — Coach John Fox said after the Bears’ near-miss season opener that ‘‘we’re a pretty good football team.’’

An embarrassing 29-7 thrashing Sunday by the Buccaneers was a 60-minute rebuke of his notion — and, perhaps, of him.

A pretty good football team doesn’t run out a quarterback, Mike Glennon, to throw two first-half interceptions — one of which was returned 47 yards for a touchdown by Robert McClain — and fumble the ball away while he’s raising the ball to throw.

Nor does a good team try to scoop up, only to muff, a punt as it was rolling to a stop, as rookie Tarik Cohen did one play before Jameis Winston threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Mike Evans to put the Bucs up 10-0.

A good team doesn’t commit three defensive holding penalties on incomplete passes on third down. Or need a garbage-time touchdown pass — 14 yards from Glennon to Deonte Thompson — to avoid its first shutout in two years. Or watch as Jordan Howard, suffering from a shoulder injury, runs nine times for only seven yards.

Or allow the Bucs to start their drives on their 47, on average, in the first half. Or go into the locker room with a 26-0 deficit.

It doesn’t look unprepared, unenthusiastic and rusty against a team playing its first full-contact game in 18 days.

‘‘It was basically not a good day at the office,’’ Fox said.

It was more than that. One week after the Bears were a five-yard pass away from beating the defending NFC champion Falcons, they left Raymond James Stadium in disarray.

In Year 3 of the Bears’ rebuild, blowout losses, even to good teams, should be unacceptable.

Saying he had no plan to promote No. 2 pick Mitch Trubisky to starter, Fox said the loss was about more than just the quarterback. Glennon took the blame, though.

‘‘We had four turnovers,’’ said Glennon, who went 31-for-45 for 301 empty yards and a 76.2 passer rating. ‘‘We had a turnover on their 5-yard line or so, we had a pick-six and another [interception]. We didn’t put our team in good situations to succeed, and that falls on me.’’

He’s right. But failure stretched across all three phases.

‘‘We got down a lot,’’ said inside linebacker Danny Trevathan, who had two of those defensive holding penalties. ‘‘I’m not gonna lie: It didn’t show that we’re a good team today, but I believe we are.’’

Do good teams get thumped like that?

‘‘Some do,’’ said Trevathan, who lost three regular-season games by 15 or more points in four seasons with the Broncos — and four in 18 games with the Bears. ‘‘Have you played football? It happens in this league.’’

The mistakes look familiar, but defensive end Akiem Hicks said they’re not the same as last season, when the Bears finished 3-13.

‘‘I would say these are things that can be fixed, these are things that can be changed and improved,’’ Hicks said. ‘‘There’s no comparison, in my mind, from last year to this year.

‘‘The type of team that we have, the type of coaching that we’re getting, those things are going to be harped on, are going to be fixed. Guys are going to be motivated to do the things that they did wrong better.’’

They’ve been there before.

Fox has yet to win a game in September in three seasons with the Bears, with all but two of the losses — the 2016 and 2017 season openers — coming by more than eight points.

It figures to get uglier: The Bears have two more September games on their schedule — at home Sunday against the Steelers and on the road Sept. 28 against the Packers.

‘‘The only option is, well, there’s two: You roll over or you get up,’’ tight end Zach Miller said. ‘‘We’ll never roll over.’’

Follow me on Twitter @patrickfinley.

Email: pfinley@suntimes.com

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