On October 23, both the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Chicago Bears will face-off on the other side of the big in a regular season game in London. Over the past few years, the NFL has made regular season games in London an annual tradition. The London games have a massive crowd compared to typical NFL games. For instance, 2007’s contest between the Dolphins and Giants had over 80,000 fans in attendance.
The Buccaneers are currently 4-2 while the Bears stand even at 3-3. Both teams will need to play their best football in order to get a win. The game is actually critical for both teams: The Buccaneers will try to keep pace with the division rival New Orleans Saints, while the Bears try to simply keep their head above water in the playoff race. Buccaneers running back LeGarrette Blount will not be playing in the game due to a knee injury, so the team will need its bench players to step up and fill the gap.
The game between the Bears and Buccaneers is the fifth and final currently scheduled to be played in London. The overseas games have been part of an initiative by the league known as the NFL International Series, with the goal of expanding the sport’s international fan base. Given the success of the games in London, it seems unlikely that the NFL won’t return to London very soon. The league has explored staging contests in other countries such as Ireland, so a London may become just one of the international stops for the NFL.
And what a game that was. I really thought for a second that the Bucs were going to make a comeback but alas what can you expect when your QB throws for 4 INTS in a game? I guess you have to credit the Bears O line and Forte for the 145 yrds rushing that pretty much sealed the deal for Chicago.
Hopefully the Bucs get back on track and win some more games before they fall below 500 for the season.
I love watching American football, but we only get a few exhibition matches a year in the the UK if your lucky. I hope they can make this a more regular arrangement.
I love American football and watch it whenever I get the chance. Hope the youth set up is better than football in the UK according to this site http://www.footballacademytalk.com I found aout football academies.