One-And-Done Bucs
September 4th, 2025
Todd Bowles isn’t inspiring confidence.
Some national analysts Joe respects a lot, some not so much.
One in the respected category is Bob McGinn.
McGinn has been covering the NFL since 1979, the same year Sage Ira Kaufman took on his first NFL beat. McGinn had a hell of a long career covering the Green Bay Packers and became one of the first all-in draft nerds/gurus before the internet. He retired from traditional media about eight years ago and has been writing for various outlets ever since.
He’s now busy behind a paywall for Go Long a national NFL site. And yes, Joe has a subscription.
McGinn dropped his NFL picks today and has the Bucs winning the NFC South and losing in Round 1 of the playoffs. Not exactly a unique pick, but that’s why it struck Joe — because last night Joe saw the entire five-person ProFootballTalk.com writing crew make the same pick. Every one of them.
Lots of people are high on the Bucs but still think they can’t win a home game in the postseason. Strange.
Over and over Joe sees this take.
Todd Bowles has a 1-3 record in postseason games, all as a Bucs head coach. Football gods forbid, if Bowles loses again in a home Wild Card round game this season, he would join a rather ghastly list of head coaches — ghastly if you want to reach a Super Bowl.
Some coaches have been 1-3 or 2-4 in the postseason but at least got a first-round bye along the way, which is equivalent to a win. Bowles hasn’t gotten there yet.
A big year it is for Coach Bowles. Outside Tampa, most analysts don’t think he can win a big one.
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