Brady: I should have been thinking 'more 1st down' on final TNF play
Tom Brady didn't confirm whether he lost track of the downs late in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' 20-19 loss to the Chicago Bears on Thursday Night Football.
The legendary quarterback did say that during the pivotal final play, he should have been trying to just move the chains instead of looking deep.
"I knew we needed a chunk," Brady said, according to Grace Remington of CBS. "I was thinking about more yardage. It's just execution. We had a great opportunity there, just didn't execute."
"We were up against the clock," he added. "I knew we needed a chunk. I should have been thinking more first down instead of chunk."
The Buccaneers were down by one at their 25-yard line with 1:13 left, but they converted just one first down before giving the ball back to the Bears on a turnover on downs.
On Tampa Bay's last play of the night - an unsuccessful fourth-and-6 pass attempt - Brady appeared to think his incompletion actually came on third down.
Tom Brady thought it was 3rd down after a 4th down incompletion ended the game for Tampa Bay. pic.twitter.com/YF25w3rU3Y
— NFL Update (@MySportsUpdate) October 9, 2020
Brady struggled overall, going 25-of-41 passing for 253 yards and one touchdown.
After not allowing a sack last Sunday against the Los Angeles Chargers, the Buccaneers' offensive line played poorly against the Bears, giving up three sacks and eight hits on Brady.
The unit was also responsible for several penalties.
"They stopped drives," Brady said when asked about his team's 11 penalties on the night. "We had so many third-and-longs we just could never get any rhythm. … Those are tough to convert time after time after time. We gotta tighten that up."