There have been some very bad games for the Buccaneers during the Tom Brady era. The loss last night might be the worst for the GOAT during his time in Tampa.
Last night was a game that many Buccaneers fans and Tom Brady would like to forget. Losing to the Bengals wasn’t an impossibility, but it did add to the pain to see the Bucs play so well in the first half and then fall apart in the second.
A huge part of that loss comes down to a horrific third quarter for Tom Brady.
It felt like every drive in the third quarter ended with a turnover for Brady (whether it was an interception, a fumble, or something strange in the middle that was still due to less-than-stellar player from the GOAT).
You simply can’t win games like that. Four turnovers in the second half alongside a miscommunication on a fake punt that accomplished the same thing basically put this game out of reach for Tampa even when they were ahead.
With the Buccaneers looking terrible and Tom Brady not looking far off from retirement and the end of his career, the weird situation of the NFL South creates a strange position that is far from beneficial for the team.
The Bucs can’t bench Brady. That much is silly. Even with the GOAT not looking like himself, the Buccaneers would be crazy to make such a move with a home game in the playoffs very likely.
This is a good thing in a way, but slipping into the playoffs with this division just to get smoked in the first or second round is still a disappointing end of this year. The team doesn’t move forward, even if there are a few fun moments coming up that will contain some Tom Brady magic.
There are a lot of fans that are currently calling for the Bucs to bench Brady and see what guys like Gabbert or Trask can do. This is par for the course with the Buccaneers and their history with weaker quarterbacks, and it is rational to want to see what Trask can do before going into the offseason.
Still, even with Tom Brady not playing well and the team looking terrible, the Buccaneers don’t have many changes that they can make, even in the name of improving the outlook for the future.
A lot of people would argue that being in a position to win the division is far from a strange or weird situation, but if the goal is always Super Bowl or bust, one has to wonder how this season is building for that future. The answer is that it isn’t.
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