Buccaneers Bench Jameis Winston Following Fourth Interception, Turn to Ryan Fitzpatrick at QB

Jameis Winston was sacked five times and went 18-for-35 before getting benched Sunday.

The Buccaneers might just have a quarterback problem on their hands.

Tampa Bay benched starter Jameis Winston late in the third quarter of Sunday's contest against the Bengals. Winston was 18-for-35 for 276 yards, one touchdown and four interceptions against Cincinnati. He was sacked five times.

The first interception came in the end zone on the Buccaneers' first drive and the last one was thrown in Tampa Bay territory and returned 21 yards for a touchdown.

With Winston going to the sideline, the Buccaneers put Ryan Fitzpatrick in as the replacement. In his first drive Sunday, Fitzpatrick took Tampa Bay 55 yards downfield to the edge of the red zone before Chandler Catanzaro ended the possession with a field goal. Fitzpatrick went 3-for-3 on his opening series. On his next drive, he connected with Mike Evans for a 72-yard score to cut the Bengals lead to 34-26 in the fourth quarter.

Fitz launches it to Evans for the 72-yard TD!#GoBucs | #TBvsCIN https://t.co/cq8hc2guYc

— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers) October 28, 2018

With about three minutes remaining in the game, Fitzpatrick took the Buccaneers on a game-tying drive that ended with him throwing his second touchdown of the game on a fourth down with just more than a minute left on the clock. He then evaded pressure to complete a pass for the two-point conversion to get the game even at 34.

Andy Dalton then took the Bengals on a game-winning drive that featured A.J. Green making two catches for 34 yards. Randy Bullock connected on a 44-yard field goal as time expired to seal the win for the home team.

For the game, Fitzpatrick went 11-for-15 for 194 yards and two touchdowns.

Fitzpatrick started the season for Tampa Bay after Winston was suspended for three games to start the year for violating the league's personal conduct policy. Tampa Bay went 2-2 in Fitzpatrick's four starts, but he was subbed out in his fourth start after a rough performance against the Bears.

Winston completed 69% of his passes coming into Sunday and had 905 yards, five touchdowns and six picks in the three games. Fitzpatrick tossed for 1,356 yards, 11 scores and five picks in his four games prior to Sunday, while completing 67.4% of his throws.