Bruce Arians defends Todd Bowles as fans begin to call for his job

There are three certainties in life: Death, taxes, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans demanding Todd Bowles be fired.

Those cries grew louder on Monday night after his decision to kick a game-tying extra point against the undefeated Chiefs and not attempt a two-point conversion to take the lead. We don't know what would have happened after, as Kansas City likely would have been far more aggressive than it was knowing overtime was on the table, and we'll never know.

All we do know is that the Bucs played it safe and never got the ball back in a game they lost in overtime. It's just the latest thing fans are furious with Bowles over and that wasn't even the only thing he did on that drive. He inexplicably stopped the clock with 30 seconds left with the team's final timeout rather than eating up more time to leave less for Patrick Mahomes.

He's been prone to making questionable-to-poor decisions in big moments, with many comparing this to the timeouts mishap at the end of the NFC Divisional Round loss in Detroit back in January. Beyond that, Bowles' defense has been subpar all season, giving up points at a rate we're not used to seeing.

While fans have drawn their stance against Bowles, he still has some powerful figures in his corner.

Bruce Arians defends Todd Bowles amid Buccaneers' losing streak

In a recent podcast appearance, Arians talked about the Bucs and specifically dove into their struggles. Rather than call Bowles out or question his leadership, Arians defended his successor and made sure to point out one thing that is getting glossed over when criticizing the defense.

“He’s playing with a short deck with the corners that he’s got, you know, a couple of young guys in there,” Arians said. “The injury bug has hit’em hard defensively in the back end.”

Injuries have ravaged the roster all season on both sides of the ball, but Bowles' defense has been hit particularly hard. Antoine Winfield Jr. missed four games after suffering a foot injury in Week 1, Calijah Kancey didn't make his season debut until Week 6, and both SirVocea Dennis and Jamel Dean have been placed on IR.

It's hard to criticize the defense's performance without acknowledging how much talent is missing. That doesn't excuse the mistakes or poor play, but it helps illuminate why the struggles are happening, as it's a symptom of a depleted roster rather than outright poor performance.

Tampa Bay has a huge matchup on Sunday against the 49ers, one that the team needs to win in order to head into the bye week with positive vibes. The schedule lightens up after that, which suggests if the Bucs can get healthy and focused, we'll all be singing a different tune about Bowles.

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