Buccaneers loss to Titans falls on Bruce Arians, coaching staff

The Buccaneers suffer yet another heartbreaking loss, this time at the hands of the Titans; head coach Bruce Arians has nobody to blame but himself.

Coming out of the bye week, it was imperative that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers got back in the win column after back-to-back losses. The players wearing the pewter and red uniforms did their best to put the Bucs in position to win, but this loss to the Tennessee Titans can be placed onto the shoulders of head coach Bruce Arians and his coaching staff.

Topping the Titans in first downs, total yards, passing yards, rushing yards and time of possession, the Buccaneers offense put the team in the best position to win this game. The defense held quarterback Ryan Tannehill to less than 200 yards passing and sacked him three times; running back Derrick Henry was held to under 100 yards rushing as well.

So how exactly did the Bucs lose this game? Ask the head coach himself as Arians and offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich need to take a look in the mirror and have a tough moment of self reflection. Awful short yardage play calling, a terrible challenge, and questionable personnel usage cost the Bucs a chance to win the game.

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Arians needs to keep the challenge flag in his pocket when there is a pass interference; he just gave away a timeout after challenging a defensive pass interference called on Carlton Davis, a play that was evidently not going to get overturned. As the Bucs were driving and looking for a go-ahead score, they found themselves in a much faster tempo than they would have needed to be had they had a second timeout.

This awful game management falls directly onto Arians, and he needs to go into the locker room and apologize to his players for putting them in a compromising position to begin with. At what point do we begin discussing the play calling duties and whether or not Leftwich deserves them anymore? His fourth and short play call was beyond suspect, trying to ram ahead with Peyton Barber.

This coaching staff continues to play the likes of Barber and Breshad Perriman, as they cannot get a grip on their personnel and responsibilities. One of the most experienced coaching staffs in the league looks anything but seasoned.

Sure the refs blew an obvious touchdown on a forced fumble by Devin White on a fake field goal, but the Buccaneers have nowhere to look for blame besides the mirror. The Buccaneers now sit at 2-5 as the season looks again like a wash; Arians can thank himself for that.