Baker Mayfield played well this week, good enough to stay in the MVP conversation, but still left Raymond James Stadium with a 28-23 loss. He did everything you’d expect from a quarterback trying to rally his team late, but the Buccaneers kept giving ground. When it was over, Mayfield didn’t hide how fed up he was.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback did a post-game interview on the Buccaneers Radio Network and went on a full-on rant.

“That’s a good team that we just played, but quite frankly, we didn’t do nearly a good enough job on the fundamental things. And when you play a good team like that, I’ve said that multiple times, they’re gonna take advantage of it. So we just have to execute in critical moments better,” he said.

Coming off the bye, you’d expect Tampa Bay to look sharp, maybe even rejuvenated. Instead, they looked loose and undisciplined, especially on the back end. The Patriots hit them for three touchdowns of 50 yards or more, back-breaking explosives that pointed more to mental lapses than mismatches.

“And at some point, these players need to get absolutely sick of it and they need to take accountability for it and get it fuc—- fixed. We just got beat on a twist. Same sh– that we put on tape in the past and didn’t do it again. So we gotta get it fixed,” Mayfield added, almost making a plea to Todd Bowles.

Drake Maye stood in the pocket all night, handled the Bucs’ pressure, and hit shot after shot down the field. He finished 16-of-31 for 270 yards and two scores, and Tampa Bay’s corners never really settled in. Too often, the Patriots got exactly the look they wanted.

But what really seemed to needle Mayfield wasn’t just the coverage breakdowns; it was the body language. For stretches, the Bucs played like a team waiting for someone else to make the play. There was a lull, a flatness at odd moments, and he felt it.

Mayfield has every right to be frustrated. He played another big-time game, one good enough to win most Sundays, and it still wasn’t enough.

Baker Mayfield put on yet another masterclass

Mayfield really did empty the tank trying to drag Tampa Bay back. He had them moving on what could’ve been a game-winning drive, only to miss on third-and-3 and then get swallowed up by pressure on fourth down. A turnover on downs, and that was that. All the late-game magic he’s shown this year just wasn’t enough this time.

And it’s hard to pin any of it on him. He was sharp wire-to-wire, finishing 28 of 43 for 273 yards and three touchdowns. On most Sundays, that’s more than enough. But the Bucs’ defense kept leaking, and the guy on the other sideline, another MVP candidate in Drake Maye, made sure every mistake hurt.

The funny twist came afterward, when Maye was asked about the MVP chants echoing around the stadium.

“They may be for (Baker Mayfield). Baker played his b–t off. Big fan of Baker’s game, and they’re a good football team. We travel well. That’s the Patriots. That’s us, we’re going to travel every week,” Maye said to CBS in the post-game interview.

That’s how good Mayfield was. The MVP race this year is turning into a traffic jam.

Patrick Mahomes is still hovering near the top. Matthew Stafford, at 37, is having the kind of season that makes you double-check the injury report to make sure his back really was an offseason storyline. Running back Jonathan Taylor has muscled his way into the conversation, too.

And then there’s Mayfield and Maye, both leading division contenders, both carrying teams that look like January threats. It’s going to come down to how they close and what they do once the stakes rise. The postseason tends to sort these things out.