[](https://www.joebucsfan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/RaymondJamesStadium.png)
The Bucs are on a 2-8 run when playing at night under Todd Bowles.
That includes last season’s home playoff loss.
Is that a coincidence?
Joe’s written many times about being a non-believer in football coincidences, especially trends that involve the same coach or player.
For example, Joe believes there’s no coincidence in Todd Bowles teams starting four seasons in a row with a 2-0 record. Bowles knows how to get a team ready for opening day.
Joe also believes there’s no coincidence in all four of those Bowles teams taking a major midseason nosedive. In addition, those teams righted the ship late in the season.
Something is real when it comes to these Bowles patterns.
Another Bowles thing is losing in night games. Bowles has been asked about it many times and says he thinks it’s just poor and not the way the team prepares itself.
The head coach put his foot down on that topic again yesterday on the Bucccaneers Radio Network.
“I don’t think it’s prime time. I just think it’s mistakes,” Bowles said. “I really do think it’s mistakes because we’ve played — the first two weeks of the season we were in prime time. We won both of those games. So, it’s just the mistakes that we gotta clean up. Everybody else has to do their job better — coaches, players, everyone around and then we gotta detail our work.”
For the record, Bowles was mistaken. The Bucs did not play their first two games of the season at night. They opened the 2025 campaign at Atlanta in 1 o’clock game.
Joe thinks as long as the Bucs don’t realize they have some sort of systemic problem with night games, then their record when the sun sets is unlikely to improve.