The Buccaneers started the 2025 season at 6-2. Since then, they\u2019re now 2-11.<\/p>\n
Sunday\u2019s 17-14 loss to the Packers has dropped the Bucs to 0-4. After the game, coach Todd Bowles was asked whether he\u2019s the right coach to lead the Buccaneers moving forward, and what he can do to change the recent trend.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m the head coach,\u201d Bowles told reporters. \u201cI can do more. I can always do more. I\u2019ll always take the blame on that.\u201d<\/p>\n
He was then again asked what he can do to change things.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re gonna fight, we\u2019re gonna stick together, and we\u2019re gonna figure this thing out, and I\u2019ll lead them to that,\u201d Bowles said. \u201cThat\u2019s my job.\u201d<\/p>\n
The good news is that every loss in 2026 has come in a one-score game. The bad news is they\u2019ve won none of them.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know what the problem is,\u201d Bowles said. \u201cIt\u2019s on us. We can\u2019t keep getting close to not winning. That\u2019s not good enough. Our record says what we are. We\u2019re 0-and-4, until we acknowledge that and we correct our own mistakes, you know, it\u2019s gonna keep happening. We talked about it as a team. We\u2019re gonna be a team, and we got to play tougher in the end and we got to execute the end. And that\u2019s the only way you can win the ball game.\u201d<\/p>\n
It won\u2019t get any easier on Thursday night, with a short-week trip to Dallas. The Cowboys are not easy to beat at home, and Tampa Bay will have an undrafted rookie at quarterback against Dak Prescott and company.<\/p>\n
Then comes the mini-bye, which provides an opportunity for the Bucs to make a coaching change.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a benefit to an in-season termination; it gives the team a longer runway to search for the next coach. Working in Bowles\u2019s benefit is the fact that there\u2019s no clear candidate on his staff to serve as the interim head coach. There\u2019s no defensive coordinator. Offensive coordinator Zac Robinson is in his first year with the team, after being fired by the Falcons. The special-teams coordinator is Danny Smith.<\/p>\n
The Bucs could go outside the organization for an interim hire, like the Colts did in 2022 when Jeff Saturday replaced Frank Reich. Or the Bucs could just ride it out, quietly planning for a new direction in 2027 while allowing the balance of 2026 to play itself out.<\/p>\n
However it goes, it\u2019s not going well in Tampa. After playing the Cowboys, the Bucs face the Steelers, Panthers, Falcons, and Bears before the Week 10 bye. For now, they need to start digging out of the early-season hole. And they\u2019ll need to get used to plenty of empty seats for the six remaining home games \u2014 unless those otherwise empty seats are filled by fans of the visiting team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Buccaneers started the 2025 season at 6-2. Since then, they\u2019re now 2-11. Sunday\u2019s 17-14 loss to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":872150,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[99],"class_list":["post-872149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=872149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872149\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/872150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=872149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=872149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=872149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}