The Tampa Bay Buccaneers narrowly lost to the back-to-back defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs on Monday night despite not having their best weapons. As we all know though, moral victories aren't actual victories so it's hard to be amped about the team dropping to 4-5.
It's even more frustrating considering the Bucs had a chance to win the game. The good guys scored a touchdown in the final minute of action and were then posed with a decision: Tie the game with an extra point attempt or try to take the lead by going for two.
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Todd Bowles decided to play it safe and kick the extra point. Bowles explained why he made the decision he did, noting that with the conditions outside, he thought playing for overtime was the right call. Well, after the Bucs stopped the Chiefs from retaking the lead in regulation, the game went to overtime and the dreaded coin flip did not go in Tampa's favor.
Baker Mayfield knew as soon as the coin flip in the Chiefs' direction that he wasn't going to see the ball again and that's indeed what happened. In a clip that has gone viral, as soon as the Chiefs win the toss, Mayfield's body language shows that he knows his Bucs are doomed, slumping his shoulders and putting his head down in defeat.
Baker Mayfield knew this game was over as soon as the Bucs lost the coin flip
As we've seen Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs do what feels like at least a hundred times, the villains marched the length of the field and the game concluded when Kareem Hunt barreled into the end zone. That touchdown was enough to end the game and hand the Bucs their fifth loss of the year.
What's frustrating about this game isn't even that the Bucs lost, but rather how they lost. A team without Mike Evans and Chris Godwin shouldn't have been in a position to win this game in the first place but Mayfield was balling out and helped keep his team afloat. Had the team been aggressive and went for two, maybe that'd have been enough to win the game.
Before that happened, however, Bowles called a timeout, which allowed for there to be time on the clock in the first place. Had this game came down to the final seconds, you'd have to think that Bowles makes the aggressive call and tries to end the game in regulation.
If the Bucs end up missing the playoffs, this will be a game that fans look back on and wonder what could have been.