Bucs QB Baker Mayfield accuses Bears of mimicking his cadence

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.