Cowboys could put Todd Bowles out of his misery on Thursday Night Football

As the 0-4 Tampa Bay Buccaneers continue their downward spiral, calls for head coach Todd Bowles to be fired are growing louder.

But the Glazers have never fired a head coach in-season before, so barring a sudden change in philosophy, the current coaching staff will go down with the ship and finish out the season.

It would take something drastic for Bowles to lose his job, but getting embarrassed by the Dallas Cowboys in front of a national audience and falling to 0-5 in the process could be enough to force the Glazers’ hand.

Dallas Cowboys could push Tampa Bay Buccaneers to fire Todd Bowles

The Cowboys are red-hot entering Week 5, having scored 30-plus points in three consecutive games. 

Dallas boasts one of the most explosive aerial attacks in football. Dak Prescott is playing at an MVP level, and CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens form one of the NFL’s best wide receiver duos.

The Buccaneers rank well defensively right now, coming in No. 4 in total defense, No. 9 in passing defense, and No. 3 against the run. But that’s partly a product of facing primarily struggling offenses including the Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings, and Cleveland Browns.

They haven’t yet faced an offense firing on all cylinders quite like the Cowboys — and Bowles’ unit could get completely exposed in primetime. The defense has struggled with missed tackles and blown coverage assignments, and Dallas is built to exploit those errors. To make matters even worse, the Bucs will be without star safety Antoine Winfield Jr. due to a rib injury, so they’ll be short-handed in the secondary going into an already unfavorable matchup.

The Buccaneers are notoriously bad in standalone games under Bowles, with a dismal 5-13 overall record in primetime, including 1-2 in the postseason.

Frankly, it’s hard to envision that trend changing given the Buccaneers’ current slump.

After starting 5-1 in 2025, Tampa Bay has since gone 3-12. There’s no way around it — this is a stunning collapse for a roster this talented. A loss against the Cowboys would send them to 0-5 on the season and 3-13 in their last 16 games.

Dallas enters the game as heavy favorites, and for Bucs fans who have been down this road before, it’s easy to foresee another ugly showing in primetime. 

The lead-up to this game has shades of the 56-14 blowout loss to the Atlanta Falcons on Thursday Night Football in 2014.

If a disaster of that caliber comes to fruition, the Glazers could have no choice but to move on from Bowles and send a message that this level of failure will no longer be tolerated — and it would be hard to blame them.

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