When is enough enough?
As the holiday season winds down and we look toward the new year, the Buccaneers gave their fans something for Christmas that nobody wants, a big lump of coal. One thing that has become clear are that real changes need to be made to this team over the coming months because what is happening right now should not and cannot be acceptable.
After a 6-2 start, the Bucs have completely plummeted and now sit at 7-9 after their fourth straight loss on Sunday to Miami and now find themselves no longer in control of their own destiny ahead of Saturday’s gigantic contest between Tampa Bay and Carolina. The Bucs could win that game against the Panthers and still lose the division if Atlanta beats New Orleans on Sunday. They have completely lost control of the division they had full control of just weeks ago and they have no one to blame but themselves. The team has said for weeks that they have everything right in front of them and for awhile that was true but four straight losses, including three of those losses being to teams already eliminated from the playoffs when you played them will have you scrambling at the end of the year just like Tampa Bay is.
The Bucs look like a team without a lot of answers for what’s going on right now and it starts with the head coach. Todd Bowles has done an admirable job the last few seasons and stabilized things after the Tom Brady era. He was able to find success and even win a playoff game in a year where everyone figured Tampa Bay would be a rebuilder. Bowles deserves credit for that, but I think the time has come to seriously evaluate whether or not he is the right coach for this football team. Bowles has been with the Buccaneers for seven seasons now, three of them as defensive coordinator and four as head coach. So in year seven of the system, why is it so often that mainstays in this defense like Lavonte David, Antoine Winfield Jr, Vita Vea and Jamel Dean constantly look bewildered as to what’s happening on certain plays. These are veteran players who just don’t seem to have a clue what’s happening on some of the most critical plays of the game. It’s not all on Bowles of course. He can’t go out there and cover the opposing team’s top receiver or successfully tackle the ball carrier, but this is his defense and mistakes like that shouldn’t be happening game after game.
It may just simply be time for a new voice for this team. Last year when there were calls for Bowles to be replaced by Liam Coen, it was tough to see that after a 10 win season and another division title but no matter what happens in the final game this year, Bowles’ team will finish with a below .500 record for second time in his four years as the team’s head coach. Even if they make the playoffs, there’s little faith here that this team can win a playoff game. As Buccaneers head coach, Bowles’ record is 34-33 in the regular season with a 1-3 record in the playoffs. Is that good enough for the Bucs? It shouldn’t be.
The standard shouldn’t be just get to the playoffs and see what happens every year. That was fine in 2023 and maybe even 2024, but the expectations for this group were higher as they should be. A significant step back should be a red flag when evaluating the future of this team. Yes injuries have hampered them a bit, but since they’ve gotten healthier, specifically on offense, they’ve only gotten worse. The goal in football is to win the Super Bowl. Do the Bucs believe that Todd Bowles is the man that can lead them there? If not, then they need to find someone who they believe can. They did that once before and it paid off pretty well. Jameis Winston was the franchise’s number one overall pick and had some success, but the organization determined that he was not going to be the one to lead them to the Super Bowl and they made a change. It worked out. Obviously that situation isn’t the exact same, but a change may be what this team needs.
It would be an egregious decision to keep this coaching staff in place if the Bucs were to lose on Saturday to Carolina and end the season with a 7-10 record and finish the season on a five-game losing streak. How could you sell that to your fan base? The fans don’t run the team, but they do spend their hard earned money going to the games and spend their Sundays watching this team. How could you sell that to season ticket holders? Not saying the team should be making decisions solely on how the fans feel, but at the end of the day they are the consumer and what they have been watching for the past two months has been anything but entertaining.
Tampa Bay is 1-7 since week 10. That is among the worst records in the entire NFL. The Glazers have fired coaches like Jon Gruden and Raheem Morris for having collapses down the stretch, why should Bowles be an exception? Because he’s won three division titles in one of the worst divisions in football? The contract extension Bowles received before the season should also not matter. Gruden was fired a year after signing an extension and the Glazers have plenty of money to cover it and they have not been scared to do so in the past. Mediocrity should not be accepted by this organization. If it is, then shame on the Glazers. I don’t think Todd Bowles is a bad guy. I think the players like him and enjoy playing for him, but all things must come to an end, and his message just may not be working as well as it once did. Bowles is the Buccaneers captain, and this team is a sinking ship. Unfortunately for Bowles, the captain has to go down with his ship.
Category: General Sports
