Leave it to Todd Bowles to make a poorly timed decision for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
It was announced this week that Bowles would return as head coach next season, much to the chagrin of an intensely frustrated fan base. Part of the deal with him coming back, though, was that changes needed to be made to his coaching staff which is what began to happen on Thursday.
Offensive Coordinator Josh Grizzard was the first coach to be fired, but he was soon followed by another name that Bucs fans were hoping to hear. Special teams coach Thomas McGaughey was dismissed as well, a move that it's hard to feel good about given how long overdue it was.
So much went wrong for the Buccaneers as they embarked on a historic collapse late in the season, but one of the first squeaky wheels was special teams. The Bucs were marred by special teams mistakes from the jump, whether it was missed field goals, blocked punts, or horrendous kick coverage, special teams gaffes were the spark that lit the fire of rage that engulfed any joy fans were hoping to get out of this season.
Buccaneers waited way too long to fire Thomas McGaughey
It's hard to pinpoint exactly when McGaughey should have been fired during the season, mostly because there are so many instances in which it could have happened. There was the blocked punt against the Texans or the blocked field goal returned for a touchdown against the Jets -- both of which are obvious examples of the team failing to get the job done.
What's even worse, though, is how pathetic kickoff coverage was throughout the season. If blocked kicks and touchdown returns are examples of spectacular failures, a quieter death was suffered from special teams blowing coverages and allowing massive gains on returns.
As bad as blocked and missed kicks were, the way the Bucs couldn't flip the field on special teams consistently put pressure on a defense that wasn't built to handle it. Any momentum that was built on offense after scoring -- which wasn't much -- instantly got zapped thanks to a giant return the other way that set an opponent up with a short field.
That killed the Bucs all season, but it became even more inexcusable when Bowles made it known that he knew it was an issue but didn't make the proper change. Late in the season he noted that the decision had been made to simply kick the ball out of the endzone since there was zero trust in any sort of coverage happening.
If that doesn't scream to a head coach that he needs to fire someone, nothing will. It was a baffling lack of action that only further exasperated issues causing the team to collapse. Making matters even worse was the fact that the Rams -- a playoff team -- fired their special teams coordinator around the same time for failing to do his job properly.
Those two things juxtaposed against each other is part of the reason so many people wanted Bowles out. It's also why firing McGaughey now rings a little hollow, as it's a change that should have been made well before it actually was.