The Chicago Bears have a considerable challenge coming up on “Sunday Night Football” against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This isn’t a team the Bears need to overlook coming off two big wins in primetime, especially looking at Tampa Bay’s defense.

After a 1-5 start to the season, the Buccaneers have pulled off back-to-back defining wins led by the defense and a strong run game. Specifically looking at their defense, the Buccaneers have allowed 13 total points in their last two games.

That unit is playing at a high level right now led by head coach Todd Bowles. It’s also been a while since Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson has faced a Bowles-led defense. The last time came in 2024 when Bowles’ unit held the Detroit Lions to just 16 points.

“It’s been a couple years here since I’ve gone against Coach Bowles,” Johnson told Jeff Joniak on ESPN Chicago. “His nickname has always been ‘Dr. Blitz’ and it doesn’t matter what he’s put on tape this year or even last year, there’ll be something that we haven’t scouted and that he’ll throw at us. I know we’ll get the full gambit here. It’s just in his DNA. There’s no way he can’t bring a little bit of pressure. He mixes up the coverages, and they have talent too.”

Ben Johnson isn’t taking “Dr. Blitz” lightly going into Sunday night’s game

Looking at the numbers, the Buccaneers have blitzed on 103 attempts this season, the third-most in the league. The only teams with more blitzes on pass attempts this season are the Minnesota Vikings (140) and the Denver Broncos (103). Going into this matchup against Dr. Blitz, one can’t help but to think back to how things went in Week 2.

Brian Flores and the Vikings blitzed the Bears on 26 attempts in that game. Quarterback Caleb Williams went 15/26 passing with zero touchdowns and one interception while being sacked four times. The Bears only managed to score three points.

It wasn’t just one game either. This season, Williams has completed 59.2 percent of his pass attempts against the blitz (21st in the NFL among QBs with 25+ pass attempts against the blitz). He’s also been sacked seven times in five games when facing a blitz, but he does have four touchdowns vs. the blitz.

My concern, though, isn’t about Williams facing a blitz, it’s about him facing a play-caller that knows how and when to draw it up better than anyone.

How have the Buccaneers have utilized the blitz over the last few weeks?

To get more insight on the Buccaneers’ tendencies and how Bowles has deployed his blitz packages, I spoke with our A to Z Sports Tampa Bay beat writer Evan Winter.

“The Buccaneers’ pass rush couldn’t get to Michael Penix Jr. in Week 8, but there are plenty of factors that go into that.

Regardless, the group was on a tear beforehand, combing for 10.0 sacks and 16 QB hits the previous two weeks. Bowles has done a great job of mixing up blitzes, simulated pressures, and simple four-man rushes over the last 6-7 weeks and the results speak for themselves.

He’s still blitzing at a very high rate and it’s easily top-5 in the NFL. However, he did mention in the offseason that he’d like to send four guys on a more consistent/frequent basis, so he’s not opposed to doing that when needed.

It really all depends on the feel of the game. If four are getting home, he has no issue hunting with those dogs. But he has shown a tendency to get impatient when the four-man rush isn’t working and that could easily bite him against the Bears on Sunday night.

Either way, I expect Bowles to be as dialed in as ever when it comes to both his plan coming in and how he adjusts once the bullets are flying. The Bears need to be ready for anything and everything in Week 9.”

Which players will the Chicago Bears have to ID in this game?

As Johnson mentioned, it’s not just Dr. Blitz the Bears are facing on Sunday night. The Buccaneers have some talent too on that side of the field. The most dangerous threat is nose tackle Vita Vea, both as a pass rusher and a run defender, and certainly a player that the Bears will have to be aware of.

“I think Tampa’s got a guy kind of like that as well in Vita Vea, I think that there are game changers out there that as an offensive play caller, you’ve got to account for,” Johnson explained. “You hear all the time about defensive coordinators, they want to take out the best players on the offense. Well, it’s a little bit of the same thing for an offensive play caller. How do we minimize that individual’s impact on the game the best that we can? And sometimes those plans work, other times they don’t.”

Outside of Vea, the Buccaneers have some dangerous players in the second and third levels too. Jacob Parrish, for example, has two interceptions this season when the Bucs have sent 5+ pass rushers. Antoine Winfield Jr. is still a versatile threat. Alex Anzalone leads the team with three interceptions while A’Shawn Robinson and Zyon McCollum also have two interceptions each this season.

It’s an opportunistic group led by another blitz-happy defensive mind. It’s easy to see why teams have struggled against this unit this season. Johnson and the Bears’ offense will have their hands full.