The Tampa Bay Buccaneers surprised and disappointed their fans at the end of the 2025 NFL regular season collapse and missed playoff bid in the NFC South to the rival Carolina Panthers by holding onto Todd Bowles as their head coach - a call of incompetence that had the Glazers written all over it.
It felt like the team had given up on Bowles, and his lack of leadership and poor preparation of the team was wearing thin on folks. That seemed to be backed up by how players like Mike Evans reacted during the season crushing loss to the Atlanta Falcons on Thursday Night Football, and it was only proven by what happened in the offseason.
Three impending free agents left to other playoff contenders in the NFL. Breakout cornerback Jamel Dean became a much-needed signing for the Pittsburgh Steelers, while defensive tackle Logan Hall also moved to an AFC playoff team in the Houston Texans. But the biggest blow, by far, was Mike Evans joining the San Francisco 49ers in the same conference to catch passes from Brock Purdy, all the while touting the better winning culture on the west coast's Bay Area.
Todd Bowles lacks hunger, and Buccaneers players took notice
The Evans move was the real slap in the face and a subtle sign that these players were not feeling the same hunger and desire to win from the folks in charge in Tampa Bay. All season long, Baker Mayfield was preaching accountability and motivating to win, while Bowles was complacent and actually throwing other people under the bus.
In a recent interview, JoeBucsFan captured Todd Bowles down playing this idea that other teams wanted it more than the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, “I don’t think teams were more hungry to play; they beat us. That doesn’t mean we weren’t hungry to play. We made physical mistakes, but effort-wise, our effort was outstanding. We didn’t play smart at times. We didn’t coach smart at times. But as far as from a ‘hungry’ standpoint, I would not use that word.”
Meanwhile, Jason Licht told Kevin Clark the opposite, that the Buccaneers will be better in 2026 than 2025 because they will be more hungry after the events of last season, Hunger. I feel like we got a lot to prove. I feel like we let a lot of fans down last year. A lot of self-reflecting and I feel like we were better than that. So, I think that sentiment is shared by everybody in the organization.”
Licht just exposed what Buccaneers fans already knew. The Bucs lacked hunger last season, Bowles was part of that problem, and Bowles remains part of that problem - the largest part, in fact - by continuing to fail to acknowledge his own lack of desire. Players were turned off by it, and the good ones who wanted more and had a chance to leave took that opportunity to do so.