The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have breathed life back into their season with two consecutive gutsy wins over the Carolina Panthers and Atlanta Falcons over the last two weeks. Those wins were powered by old-school, dominant performances from their offensive line and defense.
The tip of the sword on offense, as always, was 3-time NFL All-Pro offensive tackle Tristan Wirfs — arguably the NFL’s best pound-for-pound offensive lineman and the biggest reason why the Buccaneers set a franchise record with 324 rushing yards in the win over the Falcons.
Heading to face the Chicago Bears on the road as 6-point underdogs in a primetime game on Sunday Night Football in Week 9, the Buccaneers will need Wirfs at his best to pull off the upset after a toe injury.
The Buccaneers are 3-5 after starting the season 0-4.
“Bucs coach Todd Bowles said LT Tristan Wirfs will play Sunday night at Chicago,” Tampa Bay Times NFL reporter Rick Stroud wrote on his official X account on Friday. “WR Emeka Egbuka is questionable and more of a game time decision. Only player out is Yaya Diaby.”
“Good sign for the Bucs this morning as Tristan Wirfs is working with the starting unit after being a DNP in yesterday’s practice,” Bucs GameDay’s Logan Robinson wrote on his official X account before Bowles’ announcement.
Tristan Wirfs One of NFL’s ‘True Franchise Players’
Bleacher Report’s Brad Gagnon put Wirfs, also a 5-time Pro Bowler, on his list of the NFL’s “True Franchise Players” in 2026 — the highest-ranked offensive lineman on the list.
“On a similar Hall of Fame track (to Detroit Lions offensive tackle Penei Sewell) is Wirfs, who has been a first- or second-team All-Pro three times in six seasons and has just seven holding penalties in his entire career,” Gagnon wrote on July 15. “Sewell was PFF’s top-graded right tackle in 2025, while Wirfs was the No. 1 left tackle with a 92.7 rating. Sewell and Wirfs have been responsible for a grand total of five sacks since the start of 2024. We rank (Wirfs) one spot ahead of (Sewell) because the jury is still out on Sewell at left tackle.”
Tristan Wirfs Battled Injury Issues in 2025
Wirfs, 6-foot-5 and 320 pounds, missed a career-high 5 games in 2025 as the Buccaneers went 8-9 and missed the playoffs for the 1st time since 2019.
In August 2024, the Buccaneers signed Wirfs to a 4-year, $140.6 million contract with $88.24 million guaranteed. It made him the highest-paid offensive lineman in NFL history.
Before the contract was signed, Bucs’ general manager Jason Licht told a Tampa radio station he thought Wirfs should be the highest-paid offensive tackle in NFL history.
“I was on with WDAE talking about Antoine Winfield at one point, saying, ‘Hey the guy deserves to be highest-paid (safety),’ and I’d say the same thing for Tristan,” Licht said in July 2024. “So, we’re working very diligently to see how we can do that, you know, so it can help both sides, as well, so it doesn’t hurt our future so we can still continue to win, but we can reward him.”
Buccaneers Give Tristan Wirfs Injury Update for Bears Game