Should the Buccaneers start Jameis Winston or stick with Ryan Fitzpatrick?

The Buccaneers have a quarterback problem on their hands this week.

Fourth-year starter Jameis Winston returns to the team after serving a three-game suspension for allegedly groping an Uber driver. With Winston out for the start of the 2018 NFL season, the Bucs’ offense was left in the hands of journeyman backup Ryan Fitzpatrick, who’d completed less than 59 percent of his passes in six appearances with the team the previous year.

And, for two weeks, it was awesome. Fitzpatrick set the league on fire with eight (8!) touchdown passes and 819 passing yards in victories over the Saints and Eagles. His revival appeared to wear off in Week 3 when he fell into a 30-10 hole against the Steelers thanks to three first-half interceptions, but the Fitzmagic returned with a pair of fourth-quarter touchdown passes and another 400+ yard performance in a 30-27 defeat.

Now, with a date against the NFC North-leading Chicago Bears looming, Tampa Bay has to make a decision. Will the team continue to rally around the soon-to-be 36-year-old who is performing at an unsustainable rate? Or will it defer to the former No. 1 overall draft pick who has been the team’s primary starter the past three years?

As of Friday, the Buccaneers still haven’t publicly named a starter — but if their Week 4 practices are any indication, they’re leaning toward Fitzpatrick.

So, let’s say you’re running the Buccaneers this week. The choice is yours — which player do you name your starting quarterback against the Bears?

Fitzpatrick’s absurd start cannot last, but doing anything besides seeing how far it can go is a disservice to the game. The veteran quarterback’s personal-best passing yards in a season to date is 3,905. After three games, he’s on pace for 6,560 — which would be an NFL record by more than 1,000.

His career high for touchdown passes in a season is 31. He’s already got 11 through three games and is on pace for 59, another league record. Is he going to keep that pace? Hell no! But how do you yank a player from the starting lineup with numbers like that? It’s like pulling your starting pitcher after he struck out six batters in two innings (and, yes, maybe gave up a home run or two in that Steelers game).

Fitzpatrick is going to fall back down to earth, but he showed off some valuable resiliency last week in leading his team back from blowout loss to narrow defeat. He’s the team’s best option to put up points in a hurry because he’s a much more precise downfield passer than Winston — and this is a team loaded with athletic downfield threats. He’s single-handedly revived DeSean Jackson’s career, re-establishing him as a deep threat (12 catches, 312 yards) one season after posting the lowest yards-per-catch average of his career in 2017. He’s also pushed Mike Evans and O.J. Howard to the peaks of their potential; each is on pace for career highs in receptions, receiving yards, and touchdowns.

Plus, Fitzpatrick seems like the much more fun player to line up with. Would you rather have disingenuous weirdo Jameis Winston trying to pump you up by pretending to eat his own hand, or would you rather have this football dad connecting with you at the most basic possible level?:

Is Fitzpatrick going to revert back into the player who was discarded by the Rams, Bengals, Bills, Titans, Texans, and Jets at some point? Almost certainly. But what if he doesn’t? And what if you wind up depriving your team of another 400+ yard performance in the process?

Can’t risk it. Go with the guy who’s been better. Reward good behavior — both on and off the field — in the process.

This isn’t endorsing Jameis Winston the person — strictly the player on the field now that his NFL suspension is over. It can be hard to differentiate between the two, but for the purpose of this exercise we’re just looking at what he does as a quarterback.

Winston’s play last year was quietly pretty solid. He finished eighth in adjusted yards per attempt last season with a mark of 7.7. That was ahead of Ben Roethlisberger, Russell Wilson, Matt Ryan, and Aaron Rodgers. The Buccaneers can move the ball with Winston; he just needs to be cleaner with his turnovers.

Winston also hasn’t gotten a chance to play with new offensive coordinator Todd Monken and his aggressive, downfield passing attack. Tampa Bay needs to see what Winston can do with Monken. Winston is only under contract until 2019 as things stands — the Bucs need to decide if he’s their guy for the future, or if he’s not worth the trouble (both on and off the field).

Winston’s style of play is extremely aggressive and at times, reckless. If he can figure out how to get over his own version of “heroball” then he’s the obvious selection at quarterback for the Bucs. He’s simply been a better quarterback than Fitzpatrick throughout his young career and the Bucs recently invested a No. 1 overall pick in Winston. At just 24 years old, Winston is more than a decade younger than Fitzpatrick and is someone who can be a legitimate building block for the team, but the Bucs have reached the point where they need to make a clear decision.

In terms of overall talent, cost, and looking toward the future, Winston is the obvious choice. Fitzpatrick taking on the Bears defense might not be a fair fight anyway.