It's not easy to watch the Tampa Bay Buccaneers regress. Six year's ago the Bucs were riding the tails of Bruce Arians and Tom Brady to a Lombardi Trophy, now they are runner ups to the division rival Panthers who finished with the same record.
Todd Bowles started out well enough. His team began a soft reset after Arians retired. Despite a 10-7 season in 2024, the rest of his time in Tampa has been bad enough for fans to demand a change, but Buccaneers ownership doesn't see Bowles through the same lens.
Joel Glazer spoke with the media at the NFL's Annual Owners Meeting and defended his decision to keep Bowles, despite some fans calling for him to cut ties and move on.
Tampa Bay Buccaneer owner Joel Glazer defends decision to keep Todd Bowles
Glazer cited a myriad of reasons for retaining his coach while 10 other NFL teams made changes this cycle.
"Last season started out great," Glazer said. "Didn’t end so well. Obviously, we were disappointed. Obviously, our fans are disappointed. But there’s always a little more to it, you know. Every team has injuries, but there were significant injuries last year at significant positions."Joel Glazer
Injuries do happen and can easily derail a season, especially late in the year. It's hard to argue with Glazer over the games that were lost later in the season. The Bucs' final six games were either won or lost by no more than 4 points.
"And, a lot of close games down the stretch didn’t go our way. But we’re trying to build a championship team, and you can try and throw a dart every year, or you can try to build a Super Bowl-winning team."Joel Glazer
- Week 13 - Arizona - 20-17 - Win
- Week 14 - New Orleans - 20 - 24 - Loss
- Week 15 - Falcons - 28-29 - Loss
- Week 16 - @ Carolina - 20 - 23 - Loss
- Weeek 17 - @ Miami - 17-20 - Loss
- Week 18 - Carolina - 16-14 - Win
The bitter pill that needs to be swallowed is the fact that the Bucs lost three games in a row, at home. It's tough to get into the postseason when you can't secure wins while playing in your own stadium.
Glazer looked at last year and saw plenty of reasons for the season's ending, but he doesn't view Bowles as the problem entirely. The owner believes that, despite what others have said after leaving the Buccaneers, Bowles is still carrying the respect of the locker room.
"Obviously, ultimately the head coach is the one who has [the won-loss record] fall at his feet, but I know Todd is very respected in the locker room, and nobody wants to win more than Todd.""Joel Glazer
It also appears that both Glazer and General Manager Jason Licht are on the same page. Licht told the media that he believes that "Bowles is the right man for the job." Licht, like Glazer, acknowledged that there are more reasons for last year's collapse than the head coach.