Tampa Bay's once promising season ended with a victory, but officially concluded when another NFC South result eliminated it from playoff contention Sunday.
The outcome capped a tremendous collapse that has folks eyeing Todd Bowles' job security. However, Bowles believes his track record outweighs the Buccaneers' meltdown.
“All I can do is coach and be myself. I’ve earned the chance," Bowles said Monday. "I’ve won three straight division titles. So that says a lot as far as I’m concerned. I don’t really have a message for fans. Other than true fans are true fans and we’re going to try our best to go out there and win for them. They’re going to feel how they feel. That’s not a coach’s problem. A coach’s problem is to make the team better.”
After a 6-2 start, the Buccaneers won just two of their final nine games, surrendering their once commanding lead in the NFC South and leaving the door open for Carolina to take the division crown, snapping the Bucs' four-year run as division champs, the last three under Bowles.
The finish reflected poorly on Bowles, the coach of a team that claimed an early spot among NFC contenders, got healthier as the season progressed but declined in the execution department. As Bowles explained it Monday, "the mistakes we made weren’t talent-driven, they were more mistake-driven.”
"It’s disappointing we didn’t get in. It’s very disappointing," Bowles said. "[It’s the] first time in five years, so you kind of get used to it a little bit. But, we did it to ourselves. We did it to ourselves. We’ve got to take a deep evaluation, starting with myself. Once I do that, I’ll evaluate the coaches and players and we’ll go accordingly.”
Buccaneers fans who rode the Tom Brady wave to a title and watched their team claw its way to playoff berths after Brady's and coach Bruce Arians' departures were content with remaining competitive, even if it didn't produce more than one playoff win over the three division titles secured by Bowles. Then the 2025 season happened, opening the floodgates of frustration that spilled so violently, even the usually mild-mannered Bowles unleashed a tirade-laced rant after his team blew a 14-point fourth-quarter lead in their Week 15 loss to Atlanta.
“I understand their frustration, and I understand our frustrations, as well,” Bowles said Monday.
The Buccaneers are in a better position than the average team housing a warming coaching seat. Tampa Bay has its franchise quarterback in Baker Mayfield and a cast of promising youngsters on the offensive side that includes running back Bucky Irving and a trio of receivers in Emeka Egbuka -- once an early favorite to win Offensive Rookie of the Year -- Jalen McMillan and Tez Johnson. They also have a handful of key defensive playmakers in YaYa Diaby, Vita Vea and Antoine Winfield Jr..
But with 2026 comes a potential changing of the guard. Franchise legends Mike Evans and Lavonte David might have each played their final down in pewter and red, a banged-up offensive line needs to get healthy in the offseason and after a difficult road back from injury, Chris Godwin's $33.6 million cap hit for 2026 isn't exactly appetizing.
The Buccaneers also need to figure out their defense -- Bowles' forte -- after finishing 19th in yards allowed per game and 27th against the pass. A pass-rushing addition in Haason Reddick failed to address the Bucs' need at the position due to his own injury-related struggles, and their attempt to add depth in the secondary with third-round rookies Jacob Parrish and Benjamin Morrison delivered mixed results at best.
"We need to make some changes. Whether it’s schematically or whether it’s physically, we probably need to make some changes going forward," Bowles said of his defense. "We’ll evaluate that in the next coming days, seeing exactly what needs to be changed. Schematically, I know I need to make some changes depending on the players that we have coming back. Coaching wise, we need to make some changes as a whole as far as what we’re doing on the field and how we’re teaching guys certain things. Certain guys are probably good at certain things that we need to expose more of their good side as opposed to things that they’re struggling with.”
Perhaps now isn't the right time for Tampa Bay to make a change at coach. It could truly be a matter of execution. After all, nobody liked to point to "the little things" in 2025 more than Mayfield during his weekly media sessions.
On the other hand, in order to properly address the details, perhaps the Buccaneers could use new leadership. Bowles is set to meet with the Glazer family -- owners of the Buccaneers -- this week.
"We listen and we talk about football, but we don’t really get into what we talk about because those are private conversations," Bowles said. "At the same time, I coach this team and I understand football very well and I have a good feel for what we need and what we don’t need.”
We'll see if the Glazer family deems Bowles' plan worthy of another year, or if they'd like to join the handful of teams seeking new coaches in 2026.