It's been a brutal season for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers when it comes to the team's ability to stay healthy. Every single important player has missed some amount of time, whether it be a few plays like Baker Mayfield or Bucky Irving, or multiple weeks like Antoine Winfield Jr., Mike Evans, or Tristan Wirfs.
One could fill a Pro Bowl roster with the names the Bucs have been forced to play without this year, yet they enter the final two weeks of the season with another NFC South title very much in reach. Losing to Dallas last week set Tampa Bay back, but it has hardly ended the season. If the Bucs win out and the Falcons lose one of their final two games, the division belongs to Tampa Bay.
The blows keep coming, though.
Buccaneers lose Christian Izien to a season-ending injury
On Thursday, the Bucs placed Christian Izien on injured reserve, ending his season and also further depleting an already thin defense.
#Bucs place S Christian Izien on Injured Reserve with a pectoral injury. Another safety is out
— Rick Stroud (@NFLSTROUD) December 26, 2024
Izien is the fourth safety to miss time this year with an injury, and his loss comes at perhaps the worst possible time for the Bucs. Antoine Winfield Jr. is already out for an indefinite amount of time with a knee injury and while Jordan Whitehead was activated from IR this week he has yet to return to action.
The Bucs are facing a reality where they're fighting for their playoff lives with Kaevon Merriweather and Ryan Neal as the team's starting safeties. That's a brutal break, but is just more of the same as far as how badly the team has been chewed up by the injury bug this season.
Somehow, despite all of the injuries stacking up, Tampa Bay's defense hasn't cratered the way many would have expected. Things certainly aren't good, but Todd Bowles has managed to hold things together much better than a lesser coach would have as the defense has managed to be one of the best in the league since the bye week.
Of course, there have been some pretty nasty flare ups. The Bucs nearly lost to the Panthers in overtime a few weeks ago and are coming off a pathetic performance in Dallas. Still, despite how bad things went on Sunday night, Tampa Bay gave up onle three points in the second half which is a testament to how well Bowles has done with a deck that's arguably not even half full.
Still, the goal is to make the playoffs and attempt another deep run. That's how success will be defined and it's looking like an even tougher uphill battle to get there than it was before thanks to Izien's season coming to an early end.
More Tampa Bay Buccaneers news and rumors