No Bears regular starting quarterback has thrown a TD pass against the Bucs since Tony Dungy became head coach prior to 1996. In 1998 punter Mike Horan and third-string QB Moses Moreno threw TD passes in one game. In 1996, third-string QB Shane Matthews got into the game and threw two late TD passes.

"We need to get on the board," said quarterback Cade McNown. McNown was particularly ineffective his rookie season against the Bucs, completing only 29-of-65 for 276 yards with two interceptions. "I feel like I've watched this team more than any other team in the off-season on film."

"I feel like I know everything there is to know about this defense and it's just a matter of now going out there on Sunday and putting it to the test," He said.

McNown refuses to call it a personal crusade, even though in both games he played against Tampa Bay's defense last year the Bears scored a grand total of nine points. They got three of those after Jim Miller replaced him in the first game.

"Tampa Bay is one of those teams that has probably three or four things that they do, but they do them extremely well," McNown said. "A lot of teams will give you a hundred different coverages through the season and a hundred different things up front. But they're not really good at one thing.

"But Tampa Bay, they're the master at what they do," McNown said. "They're not a jack of all trades."

McNown was encouraged by his effort in the second half of last year's second game with Tampa.

"We played them the last game of the season and I felt like the second half, we did really well against them," McNown said. "We were throwing the ball a lot better, we were seeing things quicker. So, hopefully that'll carry over into this year."

TOUCHED BY FATE: Bears defensive end Phillip Daniels played a major role in the Bucs' rise to the NFC championship game last year. He broke quarterback Trent Dilfer's collarbone with a tackle while playing with Seattle last season. Shaun King came on and led the Bucs to the NFC Central title and within a few plays of the Super Bowl.

"I just came down on top of him," said Daniels, who will line up across from Pete Pierson Sunday, a tackle with only seven NFL starts. Pierson gave up a sack last Sunday against New England.

Daniels is more concerned this week with stopping the run against Mike Alstott and Warrick Dunn.

"They're going to come out and pound the ball," he said. "You've got to stop the run first. The goal is to get them into third-down situations. If you never get them into third-down situations, it could be a long day."

BACK SHELF: First round draft pick Brian Urlacher remains a work in progress.

Coaches still need to see more progress before he can regain a starting strong-side linebacker spot lost during preseason. He played in some nickel situations and was used as a spy on quarterback Daunte Culpepper last week against Minnesota. He also played special teams.

"Brian will be on the field," Jauron said. "We'll try to expose him to as much as we can without exposing our team to too many errors and things he hasn't seen."

HYDRATION A KEY: The Bears lost wideout Marcus Robinson for a series in last week's game due to dehydration. He's had this problem since the start of training camp. Jauron said the entire team is worried about this happening in Tampa's heat and humidity. They're drinking plenty of fluids.

"The only way we can prepare for the heat is to hydrate," Jauron said. "Our guys are in shape, but it will affect them to a degree. We've already started on that."

Cornerback Thomas Smith was suffering from a hip-pointer and did not practice Wednesday, but the Bears expect he'll play against Tampa Bay Sunday.

Former Packers defensive tackle Gilbert Brown, who has had a weight problem, worked out at Halas Hall Tuesday for the Bears. "He was big. I think I'll leave it at that," vice-president of player personnel Mark Hatley said. The Bears do not plan to consider signing Brown unless an injury occurs to one of their tackles.

RUNNING YARDAGE: Quarterback Cade McNown's 87-yard rushing effort against Minnesota ranked sixth in team history among all Bears quarterbacks. His effort combined with Viking QB Daunte Culpepper's (73 yards) were the most by two quarterbacks in an NFL game since Bobby Douglass (97 yards) and Greg Landry (87) had 184 in an Oct. 1, 1972 Bears-Lions game.

GAME NOTES: The Bears have lost five straight and six of the last seven to Tampa Bay. Despite that, they lead the series 30-14. ... Tampa's defense has held the Bears to 248 yards per game over the last six contests. ... Rookie place-kicker Paul Edinger is one of the Bears enjoying a homecoming this week. His family lives in Lakeland, Fla., 30 minutes from Raymond James Stadium. Edinger obviously never played in Raymond James Stadium since it's only three years old. However, he did play in the old "Big Sombrero." He didn't play football, though. He played soccer there. Edinger opened his first NFL season with field goals of 49 and 29 yards. "I felt like I could have made one in the mid-50s," he said. "I made a 53-yarder in warmups."

Allen is the man, again

Sept. 6, 2000

Third-year veteran running back James Allen became the closest thing to a feature back that the Bears' offense had in the season-opening loss to Minnesota. He gained 60 yards on nine carries.

He may keep that role at least for this week.

The Bears had to stick with Allen rather going to a power running game and running back Curtis Enis largely because tight end John Allred, a blocking back in run formations, and rookie tight end Dustin Lyman had shoulder injuries.

Allred is listed doubtful for this week's game at Tampa and Lyman questionable. This would leave the Bears with guard Casey Wiegmann lining up at blocking back, or else Allen running with the ball behind Enis in a different formation.

Either way, it would mean more work for Allen again. After getting only 90 carries for 389 yards his first two seasons, Allen is enjoying this situation.

"I've got to live for the moment, enjoy the moment and play hard and do what I love to do,'' he said. "And that's running the ball and just playing football on Sunday."

Enis, the No. 5 pick in the 1998 draft, seems resigned to playing a role other than feature back. His four carries Sunday marked a personal low for carries in the NFL. But he's trying to stay positive in this, the final year of a three-year contract.

"I didn't expect to have a knee injury, you know what I mean?'' Enis said of his 1998 anterior cruciate surgery. "From that, coming back, I think I've fully recovered from it.

"Through the course of the game (Sunday) I got back to doing the things that got me here -- keeping the chains moving, running through tackles and just playing hard.''

FLASHBACK: Bears defensive tackle Brad Culpepper has been giving his new team as much data as he can on his old team, the Bucs. Most of it has had to do with the defense, but he had some interesting comments about the team's running backs, Mike Alstott and Warrick Dunn.

"Mike obviously has a little propensity to fumble, so you got to really grab at the ball,'' Culpepper said. "But those guys are great running backs. I've seen them do things over the years that I haven't seen other teams really do. They can kill you.

"I was telling the guys here, when you think they're down they're not. Even if you see them down, they're not.''

Alstott, whose family comes from Plainfield, IL, has had several fumbles in games against the Bears in recent years.

Culpepper seemed to have a few flashbacks while talking about the Bucs, referring to their defense once as "We."