The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have strung together a three-game winning streak with the regular season starting to near its end. They have needed that swing of momentum to get back into the thick of the NFC Playoffs chase, but will get their toughest test remaining on the schedule in Week 15.
They visit the Los Angeles Chargers, a team that has really hit their stride since the midseason despite two close losses in the last three weeks. But this is a challenge the Bucs will need to overcome with little room for error in their pursuit of the NFC South race.
The Chargers find themselves jockeying for playoff positioning so this matchup will call for a little more urgency from both sides.
For the Bucs, that means they need a strong showing from Baker Mayfield. Tampa Bay's quarterback has delivered in key spots for them over the last two seasons and they will call upon him again this week.
That ability to rise to the occasion is something that Chargers' coach Jim Harbaugh takes most note of when analyzing Mayfield.
"A winner... the thing that strikes me about him... you see a lot of quarterbacks try to emulate him, copy him," Harbaugh said this week. "He's that guy that plays his best when his best is needed most."
Mayfield's "best" will be exactly what his team needs this week to beat this talented Chargers team. Despite the recent winning streak, he has not performed his best individually, accounting for five turnovers and eight sacks in his last two appearances alone.
It was around this time a year ago that Mayfield - to Harbaugh in one word an "winner" - and the Bucs caught fire in the final weeks to shore up a third consecutive division crown. Some of Mayfield's best football in Tampa Bay came during that portion of that 2023 campaign.
A similar surge, starting in Week 15 against the Chargers, could make a difference as the playoff picture begins to take shape.
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