The Tampa Bay Buccaneers took the Kansas City Chiefs to the edge of defeat but couldn’t topple the undefeated defending Super Bowl champions Monday night. However, it wasn’t without a valiant effort, as Baker Mayfield and the Bucs offense orchestrated a late touchdown drive to tie the game at 24 with 27 seconds to go in regulation to help force overtime.
After Mayfield found wideout Ryan Miller for the fourth-quarter score, there was an argument to be made for Tampa Bay to keep the offense on the field to go for the two-point conversion. Instead of kicking the extra point to tie the game, they’d go for the lead — and possibly the win — right then and there. While some may have been clamoring for head coach Todd Bowles to make that aggressive decision, it didn’t seem to be under serious consideration.
“Very minor,” he told reporters postgame when asked how much thought he gave to going for two. “We wanted to get it to overtime. With the wet conditions on the field, we felt like we had to go into overtime.”
Meanwhile, Chiefs head coach Andy Reid was asked if he was surprised by the Bucs decision to opt to tie the game.
“No,” said Reid. “But I’m glad he didn’t.”
According to ESPN’s Seth Walder, had Tampa Bay gone for the two-point conversion, the team’s win probability would’ve been 41.2%. With the extra point, it was 42.8%. So, by looking at that data, it was the right call, albeit by a razor-thin margin. From a more tangible game-level standpoint, the Bucs had just scored from the 1-yard line, which was most likely their go-to two-point play. If they were not confident in their second, that changes the calculus.
On the flip side, the Chiefs had been gashing the Bucs defense in the second half, especially with the running game and on third down. Against a superior opponent on the road and the offense having the K.C. defense on its heels on that drive, the momentum felt like it was in Tampa Bay’s favor to go for the win.
Bowles had different ideas, however, and the Bucs didn’t touch the football again as the Chiefs won the toss and marched 70 yards down the field for a game-winning touchdown.
