Todd Bowles has a reputation for being the new Jeff Fisher of the NFL, a master of mediocrity who often struggles to reach that threshold of going above .500. True to his word, Bowles finished 8-9 last season as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach, with the Bucs collapsing horribly at the end of the year with multiple key division rivalry defeats as they bequeathed the worst division in the NFL to a rather poor Carolina Panthers roster.
The Buccaneers will be out for revenge in 2026, but after how horribly they played in the second half of the 2025 NFL season and how many analysts looked flat out silly for calling them Super Bowl contenders initially, almost nobody is on board the Bucs train for the 2026 season.
Recently, the NFL Network ran a predictions panel for the Buccaneers 2026 record, and almost nobody thought they were going to have a great season. Out of the seven analysts, three had the Bucs with a losing record, including Nick Shook who gave them a ghastly 5-12 record. Meanwhile, the other three of the four winning records were merely 9-8, which is hardly inspiring.
The Buccaneers are fending off mediocrity
However, Bucky Brooks seems to be hugely bullish on the Bucs. He might be the best analyst of them all, which should give Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans some optimism here, and he thinks that the Bucs are going to go 11-6 next season. You can view a full chart of their predictions for Tampa Bay below.
The @nflnetwork crew has a wide range of expectations for the #Bucs in 2026.
— The Pewter Plank (@ThePewterPlank) July 8, 2026
Bucs fans, what are YOUR record predictions for the team this season? pic.twitter.com/U22ek2Xr3V
Buccaneers fans know that the team lost two big time legends in inside linebacker Lavonte David and wide receiver Mike Evans, but the truth is that neither of them made much of an impact last season. The Bucs still were losing after Evans came back from his injury in the second half of the season, while even David himself admitted that his effort was bad - and he certainly did not have as much left in the tank as former draft classmate Bobby Wagner over in Washington.
All in all, the Bucs got better this offseason despite those two departures and the even bigger loss of top cornerback Jamel Dean to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Baker Mayfield has more weapons on offense, guys are healthier, there are hungrier veterans on defense, and a trio of rookies for Todd Bowles led by Rueben Bain Jr. will bring more talent to this defensive unit.
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