After a season of fighting an uphill battle against injuries and other shortcomings, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers ran out of gas and crashed out on Sunday night. A Wild Card loss to the Washington Commanders is how the season ended, and while it might be hard to realize it in the moment there was still a lot to be proud of after all that happened.
Everything Baker Mayfield brought to the team last year sticks out in that regard, as he took strides forward as not only a franchise quarterback but a leader in the locker room. We saw that on full display following the loss to Washington where Baker showed the type of maturity that has proven he's worth every penny of the contract he signed.
Rather than cast blame elsewhere following the loss, like on the defense or his coaches, Baker blamed himself for what happened in the loss to Washington. He cited mistakes the offense made in the first half that put the team behind and his inability to help capitalize on a big defensive stand in the third quarter.
Baker Mayfield admirably took the blame for Buccaneers' Wild Card loss to Commanders
Specifically, he took blame for causing a fumble that stunted Tampa Bay's momentum and likely cost them a chance at a scoring drive.
"It comes back to me and just timing it up correctly," Baker said. "Defense had just done a hell of a job getting us the ball on another fourth down stop. That falls on me."
Baker standing up for the defense, or at least not throwing them under the bus, is notable in that the unit has caught a ton of flak this year from fans for failing to live up to expectations. A lot of that has been prisoner of the moment stuff, something we saw when Jamel Dean left the game with an injury. He's been one of the most criticized members of the defense, but the NBC broadcast pointed out that he hadn't allowed a touchdown all season.
"It's disappointing overall because I believe in this team. I believe we had the talent and the coaching staff and everybody around us to be able to go far," Baker said. "This group fought, there's a lot to be proud of."
Not only does that sound like an endorsement of Bowles and having him return as head coach next year, but also a plea to get Liam Coen back as offensive coordinator. Mike Florio noted in the pregame show that Baker has said he wants Coen back, but that's not surprising at all, considering how well the offense performed this year. It's not a foregone conclusion that Coen will leave for a head coaching job this offseason, but it's clear Baker is already in salesman mode trying to convince him to comeback.
It's hard to believe other decision makers in Tampa Bay don't feel the same. Cutting Coen a big check to stay on for another year could do the trick, as it does make sense for him to go the Ben Johnson route and further improve his stock for the 2026 hiring cycle by running things back with the Bucs.
Baker standing up for Bowles is also notable considering how much flak he's taken this year from a growing number of fans. All season long the calls for Bowles job got louder and his bizarre clock management at the end of the game only turns up the noise on the discourse.
While he mentioned that not getting the ball back at the end of the game was frustrating, Baker pointed the finger at himself for getting the team in that situation.
"Obviously the [first half] penalties didn't help us out, getting into the long yardage situations. We weren't helping ourselves out," Baker said. "Just some dumb stuff today that cost the team, so that's going to wear on me for a while."
That last bit was specifically in reference to a question about whether Baker would be as kind to himself as he was to the rest of his teammates when assessing the game. Everything he said was complimentary, and when it came to placing blame Baker never hesistated to put it squarely on himself.
We've seen this sort of stuff out of Baker all season, and it continues to prove that he's worth every penny of his $100 million contract. Not only did he step up on the field by having a career year, but he constantly displayed leadership in tough times.
Sunday's loss was no different. Baker wasn't the reason the Buccaneers lost, and his comments after the game serve as further proof that he was the biggest reason the team was in the position it was after another successful season.
More Tampa Bay Buccaneers news and rumors