DETROIT — Tampa Bay Buccaneers All Pro left tackle Tristan Wirfs couldn’t even bring himself to watch on Sunday. After a botched third-and-6 connection between quarterback Baker Mayfield and Mike Evans resulted in a 43-yard punt by Jake Camarda, Jared Goff and the Detroit Lions got the ball back on the Tampa Bay 44-yard line with 33 seconds left.

“I had my eyes closed,” said Wirfs, who trusted left guard Ben Bredeson and the crowd to tell him what was happening as the Bucs desperately clung to a 20-16 lead. “I was just nervous.”

On the previous series, backup safety Christian Izien — who replaced All-Pro Antoine Winfield Jr., who missed the game with an ankle/foot injury — made a touchdown-saving tackle on Jahmyr Gibbs on a 23-yard run. The Lions got all the way to the Tampa Bay 11-yard line on fourth-and-8. But Izien and fellow safety Jordan Whitehead came at Gibbs after he caught a slant pattern for a turnover on downs at the Tampa Bay 6.

“They only had one touchdown at the end of the game,” Whitehead said, referring to a 1-yard score by running back David Montgomery in the third quarter. “They had three field goals, so we did a pretty good job of stopping them. We had confidence they weren’t going to get in the end zone. Once you get there, it’s tough.”

Still, this was the team the Bucs beat twice last year, including a 31-23 loss in the divisional round of the playoffs.

“We had (this game) circled. … We’ve seen it. You guys saw how it ended last year,” outside linebacker Joe Tryon-Shoyinka said. “We’ve had it in our heads the whole offseason — these are the types of games you have to win.”

Three incompletions later — including a diving pass breakup for cornerback Zyon McCollum on third-and-10 — and the Bucs emerged victorious. It was their biggest upset victory — they entered the game as 7.5-point underdogs, per ESPN BET — since beating the Los Angeles Rams and Goff in Week 4 of 2019, according to ESPN Research.

“You always remember your last loss of the season,” said quarterback Baker Mayfield, who described it as a “pure sense of joy” as he left Ford Field on Sunday. “Building that chemistry and building that resiliency and the culture that we want — this is a huge win for us, and so we’ve got to build on that.”

There was a mix of profuse sweating, pounding hearts and even a few tears from assistant coaches and front office members on the elevator to the locker room. Much of their work this offseason had been shaped by that January loss. Four of the team’s owners — Bryan, Joel, Ed and Avram Glazer — beamed proudly as they shook hands and exchanged high fives.

“That was a lot f—ing better!” Wirfs shouted as he left the field. “Hell yeah! Here we go!”

Mayfield overcame five sacks — 4.5 by former second overall draft pick Aidan Hutchinson — to complete 12 of 19 pass attempts for 185 yards, a touchdown and an interception. He led the team with 34 rushing yards, including 11-yard scrambles on back-to-back plays, one of which set up the game-winning score. It was also the longest rushing touchdown of his career.

“Eleven yards? That’s so sad. So sad,” Mayfield joked. “I didn’t expect to get that far into the end zone, but when I make a couple guys miss, good things happen.”

The Bucs were forced into bigger roles by several players due to injuries. Reserve swing tackle Justin Skule started at right tackle for Luke Goedeke, who missed the game with a concussion and had the unfortunate experience of playing against Hutchinson.

On defense, in addition to Izien replacing Winfield, Greg Gaines replaced former first-round draft pick Calijah Kancey. When Vita Vea left the game early in the third quarter with a knee injury — sources told ESPN the preliminary diagnosis is a sprained MCL — C.J. Brewer and Mike Greene, both of whom were called up to the practice squad on Saturday, stepped in.

“No Calijah, no Antoine, Vita goes down halfway, a lot of guys (stepped up),” Mayfield said. “… I can’t say enough about our defense, especially in the fourth quarter — bend, don’t break mentality. They had to score a touchdown and our guys understood that and executed.”

Wide receiver Chris Godwin had a career-best 117 receiving yards in the first half and was on the receiving end of Mayfield’s lone touchdown throw — a 41-yard pass on a post-wheel drag combo. Godwin first faked a block as running back Bucky Irving came around the back of the formation. He then ran the wheel down the left sideline while Evans ran up the middle of the field with tight end Cade Otton running the drag route.

“(Offensive coordinator) Liam (Coen) did a great job coming up with that,” Mayfield said. “He was excited about that play call. He’d been talking about it all week. So it’s always fun when it comes together.”

The Buccaneers moved to 2-0 for the fourth straight season, but they haven’t been able to win three straight games to open the season during that streak. They’ll get a chance to do that in Week 3 when they host the Denver Broncos on Sunday (1 p.m. ET, FOX).

Still, it was a nice win for Tampa Bay to get there, thanks to a victory over the Lions.

“A hell of a game,” Wirfs said. “They’re not going to be pretty. They don’t have to be. It was a tough win.”