The Buccaneers had five false start penalties Sunday night.
Quarterback Baker Mayfield didn’t think it was because of the crowd noise.
The final false start, he claimed, was a result of Bears defenders mimicking his own cadence, which would be illegal. Down eight halfway through the fourth quarter, tackle Tristan Wirfs was whistled on second-and-three.
“The last one, I know they're barking out the cadence, which, you can't do that,” he said Sunday night after the Bears’ 27-24 win. “Tough for the refs to call that because they’re not right there at the line of scrimmage. But yeah, I think they called that on Tristan, but you can’t do that.”
Bucs coach Todd Bowles said his team was able to hear itself well inside Soldier Field.
“It wasn’t a communication thing,” he said. “We’ve just got to hold up more.”
The Bears have benefited from 23 pre-snap penalties by opposing offenses this year, per NFLPenalties.com, which is the fourth-most in the league.
