For the fifth time in his career, Patrick Mahomes orchestrated a game-winning drive in overtime of a regular season game. This time around, though, his heroics are being overshadowed by the raw frustration of Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans furious over how Todd Bowles managed the last moments of regulation.
Down by a touchdown, Baker Mayfield drove the Bucs offense 71 yards for a game-tying touchdown -- or so we all thought. As soon as Tampa Bay scored with just 30 seconds left, the assumption was that the team would go for two to try and take the lead.
Instead, Bowles decided to send out Chase McLaughlin for a risky extra point kick in the pouring rain and force overtime. The Bucs never got the ball again, as Mahomes and the Chiefs scored a touchdown on the first drive of overtime to win the game.
It's the latest in a long line of questionable calls Bowles has made, and his explanation won't do much to calm fans down.
Todd Bowles explains why the Buccaneers didn't go for two and played for OT instead
After the game Bowles addressed the media and explained why the team didn't go for two on its final offensive drive of regulation.
"With the wet conditions on the field, we felt like we had to go into overtime instead of going for two. We had our shots, we lost the game," Bowles said. "We had our chances all game, we just lost the game. It didn't come down to ."
It sort of did, though.
Tampa Bay going for two in that spot at the very least would have showed the type of aggression that fans have been wanting to see out of the team under Bowles. There have been flashes of it, but never usually poorly executed or at the wrong time. Look no further than the fake punt against the Falcons last week that blew up in Bowles' face for proof of this.
To be fair, this seems like a no-win situation for Bowles. Had he gone for two and not converted, he's likely getting cooked for screwing something up with the playcall. It's also important to note that this wasn't the final play of the game and there was still time on the clock -- which is perhaps a bigger mistake Bowles needs to own.
Let's say the Bucs went for it and converted. In this scenario the Chiefs likely come out even more aggressive than they did with the game tied, and absolutely do not roll over on 4th and 1 the way they somewhat surprisingly did. For everyone criticisng Bowles' lack of aggression and crediting coaches like Reid, the Chiefs punted on 4th-and-1 with two timeouts against a defense it had been cooking for most of the second half.
Still, the lesson everyone had learned over the years is that you don't give Mahomes and the Chiefs room to wiggle because they will find a way to escape. That's what happened, and while there are still a million outcomes that could have happened had the Bucs converted, we're living in the world where the one that happened is the least desirable of them all.
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