The End Is Near for Todd Bowles, Buccaneers
Last night's loss painted a stark picture of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They are trending in all the wrong directions, and it could cost them a playoff spot and end Todd Bowles' tenure as head coach. They had a 14-point lead midway through the fourth quarter, but a late collapse pushed the Bucs entirely out of the playoff picture and sparked an intense reaction from their longtime head coach.
Todd Bowles' reaction to loss speaks 1000 words
Todd Bowles was understandably frustrated with his team's performance on Thursday Night Football. In fact, the players were frustrated on the sideline. As the Atlanta Falcons lined up for a game-winning kick, Mike Evans was seen screaming on the sideline and even entered the locker room before the kick went in. It was an ugly sight.
After the game, Bowles lit into his players. He told them to look in the mirror and even seemed to absolve himself and the coaching staff of fault.
"You don't make excuses," Bowles said via ESPN. "You got to f*****g care enough where the s**t hurts. Got to f*****g mean something to you. It's more than a job. It's your f*****g livelihood. How well do you know your job? How well can you do your job? You can't sugarcoat that s**t."
"At this point, you've seen everything in the season," Bowles went on angrily. "The coaches have done everything they can do. This is a player-driven team in the last four or five weeks. You've got to execute, and they've got to hold each other accountable.
"As a coach, you can sit there until you're blue in the face. Until they start holding each other accountable and doing the little things right -- and that's not everybody, you know, we're talking about a small, select few. But the small, select few is what's getting us beat. And until that happens, it's not going to get right."
Todd Bowles threw his players under the bus
It is rare to see a coach so upset with his players publicly. It's true that coaches can only plan and they can only make adjustments, and that the onus is on the players to execute.
But to rip them so clearly in front of the press is shocking, and it could be because Bowles' tenure is coming to an end soon. He's had a run of success thanks almost solely to the fact that the NFC South has been the worst division in football lately.
But now, the Bucs aren't even leading that division. The Carolina Panthers are, and they're in a great position to win the division. Counting on Carolina to win games it should and needs to is not for the faint of heart, but the Buccaneers are fading fast. A 5-1 start has given way to a 7-7 record through 15 weeks.
Baker Mayfield is feeling the pressure, too
Baker Mayfield had another rough outing, this time with a healthy Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, and Emeka Egbuka all in the lineup.
"This one is going to haunt me. It falls on my shoulders," Mayfield said per Bleacher Report. "It's not the defense's fault. It's my fault." Bowles surprisingly agreed, saying he can "look in the mirror" and "be honest" about the performance, adding that more players should do that.
The Buccaneers are not going to move on from Mayfield. He's been maybe the worst quarterback in the NFL since Week 7, but the Buccaneers are still not going to cut ties. They're potentially concerned about the fade and the fact that he usually plays worse towards the end of the season, but finding a new quarterback, one that will be top 15 or so in the NFL like Mayfield usually is, would be challenging.
That said, this sort of play is discouraging, and it could force the Buccaneers to reconsider. Mayfield is up for an extension after this season, but that doesn't seem to be in the cards anymore.
