Monday, 4 a.m.

They made a nice comeback. They forced enough turnovers. They were competitive despite a lousy start.

At the end of the night, however, one question remained about the Tampa Bay Bucs.

Do you trust them?

The Bucs blew a chance to take over the NFC South lead with a 27-24 loss to the Chicago Bears Sunday night at Soldier Field.

Do you trust the secondary? Granted, the defensive backs of the Bucs had three of the team's interceptions and a fumble recovery. But they blew a coverage and allowed a 38-yard completion on the Bears' game-winning drive? They gave up 279 yards passing to Caleb Williams.

Do you trust the quarterback? Yes, Baker Mayfield threw for 243 yards. On the other hand, he threw two picks -- one returned for a 67-yard touchdown and the other when the Bucs had a first down at the Bears' 37 yard line. He also took four sacks.

Do you trust the coaching? Sure, the team rallied after falling behind 14-0. But 24 points when a team has five turnovers isn't enough.

Do you trust the kicking? Absolutely. Chase McLaughlin kicked three field goals, continuing his superb season. Punter Riley Dixon averaged 48.8 yards per punt and kicked two inside the 20.

Do you trust Bucky Irving? More and more. Irving had 97 yards on 20 carries and scored twice.

The Bucs fell behind 14-0 as Williams hit Rome Odunze and Luther Burden with touchdown passes.

McLaughlin hit two of his field goals in the second quarter. Then in the third, Irving scored from two yards out.

In the fourth quarter, McLaughlin hit another field goal and Irving went in from six yards out.

Chicago, however, went 49 yards on eight plays to set up their winning field goal.

The Bucs are on the road again in two weeks, traveling to Detroit to play at 1 p.m.

Monday, 3 a.m.

This time, the comeback fell short. This time, the road curse returned.

The Tampa Bay Lightning overcame a three-goal deficit Sunday night against Winnipeg only to lose when Mark Scheifele scored with a third of a second left on the clock.

The Bolts had been lethargic much of the night, falling behind 3-0 midway through the third period. But Brandon Hagel scored with 10:22 left to play. Pontus Holmberg then scored twice in 26 seconds to tie the game.

Alas, penalties doomed the Bolts. They were down two men on the ice when Scheifele scored.

Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 21 of 25 hots, but he fell to 8-4-1 on the season.

The Bolts are now 3-4-2 on the road this season.

Tampa Bay travels to Buffalo for a Wednesday game (7 p.m.).

Wednesday, 4 a.m.

Ditto.

Turns out, Junior Caminero liked this game-winning-hero role so much, he chose to do it again four games later.

Last Friday, Caminero launched his 40th home run in the bottom of the ninth of a tie game to pull out a 3-2 win over the Astros. Tuesday, he did it again. He hit 41st home run in the bottom of the ninth to pull out a 2-1 win over the Athletics at Tropicana Field.

Caminero now has two walk-offs in his career. And the talk of him perhaps snatching the AL MVP award over Yordan Alvarez is growing louder.

Caminero hit the third pitch he saw into the right field stands. It was the team's fourth straight victory and their sixth in seven games.

The Rays didn't hit much in this one, but they had excellent pitching. Griffin Jax started and threw five innings of two-hit, shutout baseball. The Rays' bullpen of Ty Johnson, Cam Booser, Kevin Kelly and Bryan Baker allowed just one run, that coming on a wild pitch by Johnson.

Baker got the win for the Rays to move to 3-2.

Chandler Simpson had three of the Rays' six hits. He also scored on a passed ball in the second.

The Rays and A's play again tonight at 6:40 at Tropicana Field. Nick Martinez (14-4) will start for the Rays against Brady Basso (1-2).