Pain.

Welp, it will be hard to top this one for most painful loss of the year.

With several opportunities to close the game out, the Bucs floundered again and again on both sides of the ball as the Atlanta Falcons secured a 36-30 overtime victory Thursday.

Fans are likely feeling big feelings right now, and like I tell my 3-year-old son, it’s best to let them out in a constructive way that’s respectful of yourself and others. So preferably that means not tomahawking your remote into your 60” TV. Those are expensive!

This loss absolutely stings, and it puts a lot more pressure on the team to rebound after their mini-bye, but they’re still 3-2. Let’s do some brief shoutouts and recover. When you feel so mad that you want to roar, take a deep breath and count to 4! (the number of Kirk Cousins touchdowns, I’m not crying I swear)

Offensive Top Performer: WR Mike Evans

First off, 100 career touchdowns is incredibly rare achievement and we should be grateful for Evans every single week. With 99 receiving touchdowns, 100 of those will put him rare company — only 10 other players have accomplished that feat, ever.

He dominated early before the entire offense got way too conservative in the second half, as Evans recorded 5 catches for 62 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Chris Godwin likewise feasted early, also catching 5 balls for 64 yards to lead the team. I’m not sure why Bowles just decided to…not use his red-hot QB who had like two negative plays all night, but what can you do?

Speaking of whom, Baker Mayfield was again excellent, finishing 19 of 24 for 180 yards and 3 touchdowns to go along with several clutch scrambles (6 carries for 42 yards). Baker proves week after week he’s made of the right stuff, and he should’ve been given the opportunity to demonstrate that when the Bucs needed yards on their final possession to give the most accurate kicker in team history a good shot at a field goal.

Perhaps a lesson to learn?

Defensive Top Performer: LB Lavonte David

I mean, if I have to give it to someone, it should be David…again…for the third time in a row. Nobody really deserves it when you allow 36 points and more than 500 yards passing to a 36-year-old statue who routinely uses the word “swag”, but here we are.

David secured what should’ve been a game-clinching interception on 4th down inside the 2-minute warning, but the offense — as aforementioned — failed to secure the win. Not much else can be done about that on David’s end, who also finished with 8 total tackles.

I guess we can also praise Logan Hall, who perhaps generated a breakout game of his own with 2 sacks. There was still entirely too little pressure on Cousins throughout the night, but at least Hall is showing some signs of growth during what has been a sluggish career to this point.

Special Teams Top Performer: K Chase McLaughlin

What more can you say about McLaughlin? He’s now the franchise record holder for consecutive field goals made with 28, and he’s currently the record holder for most accurate kicker in NFL history on field goals over 50 yards.

He tailed two more 50-plus kicks out of his three made attempts, he did his part to win this game.

In a rare event, we can also celebrate Sean Tucker, who actually generated some excellent kickoff returns for Tampa — something that feels as rare as Halley’s Comet. He averaged 43 yards per return with a long of 53, setting the offense up with short fields that it ultimately capitalized on.