Baker Mayfield: Bears barked out the Buccaneers' cadence, causing a false start

The Buccaneers were flagged for five false starts on Sunday night, and quarterback Baker Mayfield said at least one of them was caused by an illegal tactic by the Bears.

Mayfield said left tackle Tristan Wirfs jumped when Bears players yelled Mayfield's cadence, something that is a penalty when the officials notice it but is hard for the officials to know. Mayfield said he's not sure what else the Bucs could have done.

"I don't know," Mayfield said. "The last one, I know they were barking out the cadence, which you can't do that. It's tough for the refs to call that because they're not right there at the line of scrimmage. They called that on Tristan, but you can't do that."

That last false start Mayfield referenced came during a brutal stretch for the Bucs' offense: Immediately after that false start, Mayfield was hit while throwing an incomplete pass, and on the next three plays Mayfield was sacked, although one of the sacks was wiped out by a penalty. The Bucs' offensive line looked out of sorts, and Mayfield thinks the Bears' cheating was a contributing factor.