Bears vs. Buccaneers: Final score and highlights for Week 4

Yes, that really happened. The Bears put it all together on both sides of the ball in a dominant 48-10 victory over the Buccaneers on Sunday afternoon. Their place atop the NFC North remains intact with a 3-1 record.

Khalil Mack recorded another sack and forced fumble, Mitch Trubisky threw six touchdowns and Eddie Jackson picked off his second pass of the season. Five different players scored touchdowns, including Tarik Cohen, who recorded 121 receiving yards and 53 rushing yards in a stellar effort.

This is the kind of game you’ll want to relive over and over. Here’s a look back at the Bears’ best win in years.

Final score: Bears 48, Buccaneers 10

Bears 48, Buccaneers 10: A terrible pass by Winston gets picked off by Aaron Lynch, who had never recorded an interception at the NFL level before. That should pretty much do it from Soldier Field.

Bears 48, Buccaneers 10: Cody Parkey hits from 46 yards out to pad the Bears’ lead after a 11-play 47-yard drive. More importantly, they milked over seven minutes off the clock.

Bears 45, Buccaneers 10: Cameron Brate, a Naperville Central grad, scores the Buccaneers’ first touchdown of the game off a pass from Jameis Winston. Adrian Amos hit Brate hard in the back trying to free the ball loose, but Brate held on despite looking uncomfortable after the play.

Bears 45, Buccaneers 3: Tampa Bay doesn’t have anything to lose at this point, so it went for it on fourth-and-3 at the Bears’ 27-yard line and succeeded.

Third quarter: Bears 45, Buccaneers 3

Bears 45, Buccaneers 3: Pat O’Donnell punts for the first time today with 4:04 left in the third quarter, which tends to be a good sign for your offense.

Bears 45, Buccaneers 3: Six touchdown passes for Mitch Trubisky, who has apparently become the best QB in franchise history in exactly one week. The only suspense now is whether Trubisky can tie the NFL record by throwing his seventh touchdown.

Bears 38, Buccaneers 3: A tipped pass popped straight into the air in the middle of the Bears’ defense, giving Danny Trevathan an easy interception. Khalil Mack, unsurprisingly, was the one responsible for hitting Jameis Winston while he threw.

Bears 38, Buccaneers 3: Jameis Winston is in for the Buccaneers after a rough first half by Ryan Fitzpatrick.

Halftime: Bears 38, Buccaneers 3

Bears 38, Buccaneers 3: Cody Parkey wraps up the first half by nailing a 50-yard field goal. Just absolute domination by the Bears in the first half.

Bears 35, Buccaneers 3: In a weird development, Akiem Hicks is ejected from the game for pushing an official after a tussle on the field with a Buccaneers player. That’s a bad mistake from one of the Bears’ best players, even if it’s unlikely to cost them with a 32-point lead in hand.

Bears 35, Buccaneers 3: You didn’t think Tampa Bay was going to start coming back, did you? A big pass to DeSean Jackson got the Buccaneers into the red zone but Eddie Jackson picked off Ryan Fitzpatrick on a pass targeted to Mike Evans.

Bears 35, Buccaneers 3: TOUCHDOWN! When it rains it pours, apparently, because the Buccaneers can’t stop anything right now. Taylor Gabriel scored of a nifty flick pass from Mitch Trubisky, who now has five touchdowns in this game, which is more than any Bears QB has thrown in one game since 1949.

Bears 28, Buccaneers 3: The Bears announce that linebacker Sam Acho will miss the rest of the game with a pectoral injury.

Bears 28, Buccaneers 3: Another three-and-out for Tampa Bay means the Bears will get the ball back with a chance to extend their first-half lead.

Bears 28, Buccaneers 3: It’s becoming difficult to tell whether the Bears’ offense looks amazing or the Bucs’ defense is simply atrocious right now. Mitch Trubisky just found Trey Burton wide open play to get the Bears into the red zone, then Jay Bellamy was wide open for the 20-yard TD. This is amazing.

Bears 21, Buccaneers 3: Another forced fumble by Khalil Mack, who creates seemingly constant chaos in the backfield. The Buccaneers recovered and punted, but that’s not much consolation for them given they’re trailing by 18 points in the first half.

Bears 21, Buccaneers 3: TOUCHDOWN! Tarik Cohen is dicing up this defense right now, and just scored off an easy pass down the middle from Mitch Trubisky, who is now 8-of-10 for 154 yards with three touchdowns. Pretty good.

Cohen seems pumped about it:

Bears 14, Buccaneers 3: A long pass to Taylor Gabriel! A long pass to Tarik Cohen! If it wasn’t for a couple of big tackles by the Buccaneers’ secondary, each of those plays could’ve been a Bears touchdown. Mitch Trubisky appears to be in a groove right now.

Bears 14, Buccaneers 3: The kick is good. Chandler Catanzaro hits from 30 yards out to get the Buccaneers on the scoreboard five seconds into the second quarter.

First quarter: Bears 14, Buccaneers 0

Bears 14, Buccaneers 0: The Buccaneers finally got the big play they needed to begin to rally with DeSean Jackson finding some space in the middle of the defense for 48 yards, but the drive stalled out inside the 20-yard line at the end of the quarter. Tampa Bay has fourth down and a likely field goal attempt waiting when the second quarter begins.

Bears 14, Buccaneers 0: Allen Robinson’s first touchdown as a Bear came off a stellar pass where Mitch Trubisky dropped the ball right into the receiver’s hands in the end zone. We’ve talked a lot about Trubisky’s shaky accuracy this season but he put that ball right where he needed to. That drive went seven plays for 73 yards in 3:34.

We’ve also got a James Daniels sighting:

Bears 7, Buccaneers 0: Good Mitch is followed by Bad Mitch on an underwhelming drive where he missed one throw and got sacked trying to escape the pocket on another. Tampa Bay’s Jason-Pierre Paul is now tied with Khalil Mack for the league lead in sacks with four this season.

Bears 7, Buccaneers 0: The thrilling opening to the game got the crowd going and the defense seemed to be feeding off that on the Buccaneers’ first drive, which ended with a three-and-out.

Bears 7, Buccaneers 0: What a start! Mitch Trubisky made a big 23-yard run on a QB sneak to get the Bears into Buccaneers’ territory, then took advantage of a fallen Tampa Bay defender to hit a wide open Trey Burton for an easy 39-yard touchdown. It’s not often that you’ll get a lucky break like that, but it’s important to capitalize when they happen.

The Bears needed less than three minutes to cover 75 yards.

Bears 0, Buccaneers 0: For the first time under Matt Nagy, the Bears are opening the game with possession. They won the coin toss and deferred in each of the first three games. Maybe this will give Mitch Trubisky a chance to build some early confidence.

Before the game

The Bears leapt to the top of the NFC North a week ago and now they’ll look to stay there with the Buccaneers visiting Soldier Field on Sunday afternoon. It’s a chance for Matt Nagy’s team to roll off its third consecutive victory, something the franchise hasn’t accomplished since its 3-0 start under Marc Trestman in 2013.

Defense has led the way for Chicago since the addition of stud pass rusher Khalil Mack before the start of the season. Mack’s presence seemingly lit a fire under a group that collectively realized just how good it could be. Over the first three weeks of the season, they tormented quarterbacks with a relentless pass rush jumpstarted by Mack and interior lineman Akiem Hicks.

Next up on that list is one of the hottest QBs in the league, Ryan Fitzpatrick, who is set to start despite former starter Jameis Winston returning from suspension this week. Fitzpatrick leads the NFL in yards per attempt (11.1) and yards per game (410) so far this season.

However, “FitzMagic” threw three interceptions in a loss to Pittsburgh last week, and he’s been known to be streaky throughout his career. If the Bears’ pass rush can get to him consistently, it’s possible Tampa Bay considers turning back to Winston, not unlike how the Cardinals brought in Josh Rosen last week after Sam Bradford’s struggles.

As for the Bears’ quarterback situation, Mitch Trubisky will try to shake off those early struggles and have his long-awaited breakout game this week. Optimism reigns right now given the flashes of potential he’s shown, but the team can’t keep settling for field goals when it’s marching down the field.

How to watch Bears vs. Buccaneers

Time: 12 p.m.

TV: FOX

Live stream: FOX Sports Go