Did Bucs’ Brady know it was fourth down in loss to Bears?

If Tom Brady lost track of what down it was on the final play of a failed comeback bid against the Chicago Bears, the Tampa Bay quarterback is keeping it to himself, writes Fred Goodall of The Associated Press.

And coach Bruce Arians is steering clear of speaking for the six-time Super Bowl champion, whose fourthdown incompletion sealed the team’s fate in an errorfilled 20-19 loss at Soldier Field on Thursday night.

“I don’t know how to answer it for him,” Arians said Friday, reflecting on Brady’s decision to try to move the Bucs closer to field goal range rather than attempt a shorter throw to pick up a first down on fourth-and-6 from the Tampa Bay 41.

“We all knew it was fourth down,” the coach added. “I think he saw what he saw.”

After the throw intended for tight end Cameron Brate was broken up by Bears safety Deandre Houston-carson, Brady raised four fingers in the air and appeared to be surprised Tampa Bay had turned over the ball on downs with 33 seconds remaining.

While Brady talked about the need to correct mistakes and eliminate turnovers and costly penalties, the 43-year-old quarterback did not say if he lost track of what down it was on Tampa Bay’s final offensive play.

“I knew we needed a chunk and I was thinking about more yardage. It was just bad execution,” Brady said.

The Bucs were the NFL’S most penalized team last season. They’re on course to rank among the league leaders again.

Trivia question

MLB’S league championship series began in 1969 as five-game series. When did it switch to seven games?

They said it

• From NFL Memes on Facebook: “We are officially in the fourth quarter of 2020. Man, I hope we are playing the Falcons.”

• From @rslashpatriots, via Twitter: “The Jets are 750-1 to win the Super Bowl, meaning if you bet $100 on it, you would lose $100.”

• From Janice Hough of Leftcoastsportsbabe.com, on rooting for Houston manager Dusty Baker to win a World Series ring also means the tainted Astros would have to win it all: “Life is complicated.”

Trivia answer

It moved to seven games in 1985. The Cardinals beat the Dodgers in six games, and the Royals needed seven games to top the Blue Jays. Kansas City won the World Series over St. Louis in seven games.