CINCINNATI _ The day began with a report that DeSean Jackson wants to be traded. Then the Bucs went out and showed why you can't blame him.
It's the quarterback.
Jameis Winston threw four interceptions, including one that safety Jessie Bates returned 21 yards for a touchdown, in the Bucs' 37-34 loss to the Bengals.
Winston was benched after his fourth interception and replaced by Ryan Fitzpatrick, who brought the Bucs all the way back.
Fitzpatrick led the Bucs to 18 points in the fourth quarter, throwing touchdown passes to Mike Evans and O.J. Howard. His two-point conversion pass to Chris Godwin tied the game at 34 with 1:05 left.
But Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton completed passes to A.J. Green to set up Randy Bullock's game-winning 44-yard field goal as time expired.
Since returning from his three-game suspension, Winston has 10 interceptions in three and-a-half games. He had 11 in 13 games last season.
But not just any interceptions. Three of them Sunday killed scoring chances.
Mostly, Winston was missing high. His pass to Mike Evans in the first half sailed over his head and was intercepted in the end zone by Bengals safety Shawn Williams.
Then with the Bucs trailing 7-0, he scrambled to his left and tried to connect with Evans again but linebacker Preston Brown stepped in front of the pass and gave the Bengals good field position that they used to take a 14-0 lead.
With Winston under center, the Bucs got within 27-16 late in the third quarter. But Bates stepped in front of Winston's pass for Adam Humphries and returned it for a score.
Ironically, Winston's best pass was a 60-yard bomb to Jackson for a touchdown in the first half Sunday.
Winston finished 18-of-35 passing for 276 yards with one touchdown and four interceptions for a passer rating of 47.7. He was sacked five times.
It was the Bucs' fourth loss in five games, and at 3-4 with a game at Carolina next week, has put their season in jeopardy.
Winston's performance may be why Jackson may have asked to be traded before Tuesday's 4 p.m. deadline, according to an NFL Network report Sunday morning. Jackson would not comment on the report before the game. But general manager Jason Licht made it clear he had no plans to trade Jackson.
"I'll say this. DeSean Jackson and I have a great relationship," Licht said during the team's pregame radio show. "He's one of my favorite people on the team, and Dirk (Koetter) has a great relationship with him, and he's obviously a terrific player for us.
"We're 3-3, we're headed into big game today, we've got a big stretch of games coming up for us, and we don't like to talk about these stories. But I can say that my job and our job here is to field the best roster that we can to win games, and DeSean is a huge, huge part of that. Not just today, but for the rest of the season. Other than that, I don't have anything else to add."
