Buccaneers' Baker Mayfield: Stellar effort marred by INT

Mayfield completed 26 of 41 passes for 349 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions and added two rushes for 15 yards in the Buccaneers' 31-23 divisional-round loss to the Lions on Sunday.

Mayfield authored yet another noteworthy performance, eclipsing the 300-yard mark for the second time in as many postseason games and fourth time in the last six contests overall. However, the Buccaneers ultimately came up short in large part because of Mayfield's interception on a pass intended for Cade Otton with 1:35 remaining on the second play of what was set to be Tampa Bay's potential game-tying drive. Mayfield had helped put his team in that position on the previous possession, when he spearheaded a nine-play, 75-yard march that he capped with his third touchdown toss of the day, a 16-yard laser to Mike Evans. That scoring throw had been preceded by two- and 12-yard connections with Otton and Rachaad White, respectively, in what was a back-and-forth affair all afternoon. Despite the disappointing end to a better-than-expected season, Michael Baca of NFL.com reports there is mutual interest between player and team for Mayfield to return in 2024 after he threw for 4,044 yards with a 28:10 TD:INT and 163 rushing yards and an additional score across 17 regular-season games.