Just when you thought things couldn’t get any worse, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers find a new bottom.
As if last Sunday’s loss to the last place Saints wasn’t bad enough, the Bucs chased that a few days later with a loss to the third-place Falcons. Truly working their way up the NFC South in the worst way imaginable.
That loss to the Falcons involved a 14-point blown lead, something that had Mike Evans so ‘digusted’ that he left the field early before the game-winning kick by Atlanta had even been attempted. Fans who have been calling for Todd Bowles to be fired were only emboldened by the way the loss happened, and they’re now being joined by even the most optimistic Bucs fans who were still holding onto hope.
It’s impossible to deny that the Bucs are in crisis, and usually that leads to a coaching change.
Bowles has been on the hot seat in one form or another every since he stepped into the job after Bruce Arians retired, but this is as actually hot as it’s ever been. Fans know it, the media knows, but the man himself couldn’t care less about the noise.
Todd Bowles brushes off hot seat rumors after brutal loss to Falcons
While speaking with the media on Friday, Bowles addressed the most recent — and loudest — hot seat rumors by brushing them off.
“I don’t think Iat all,” Bowles said. “It doesn’t creep into the locker room. Players play and coaches coach. I got more years behind me than I do ahead of me. I think we’re in a situation where we’re right back in it and our only focus is on winning a ball game.”
Say what you will about him, but he’s not wrong.
As frustrating as the loss was, and for all the evidence continuing to mount that suggests the Bucs need to make a move, there are still three games left on the schedule. Not only that, but Tampa Bay can still win the NFC South and punch a playoff ticket thanks to two matchups against Carolina.
That’s a lot easier said than done, especially given how attorocious and uninspired the team looks, but the book isn’t yet closed.
Of course, that doesn’t answer the question of what Bowles’ future with the Bucs is. It truly seems like things have run their course and regardless of this season’s outcome some sort of leadership change is needed.
It would have been nice if Bowles had a chance to ride off into the sunset — and there’s still a chance that can happen, however slim it may be — but the end certainly seems to be near. Perhaps a retirement not unlike what Arians did is in store, but something needs to happen.
He may not be thinking about it, but the future will be front of mind for Bucs fans the remainder of the season.