Says letting Liam Coen escape to Jacksonville a defining moment in Bucs history.
As we sit here on March 10, 2026, there is no way you can convince Joe that the Bucs are a better team than they were 24 hours ago.
In maybe less than two hours yesterday, the Bucs lost a Hall of Fame receiver and their best cornerback. And they were replaced by who?
Yes, it’s probably irresponsible to start throwing eggs after only the first day of legal tampering. The problem is, on the second day, it’s like going through the Thanksgiving leftovers expecting a full hot, fresh Thanksgiving dinner spread. There might be some leftover green bean casserole in the fridge.
The reasons behind Mike Evans bolting to the 49ers when just 14 months ago he spoke lovingly of the Bucs, was a cold, rude slap of reality right across Bucs fans’ faces.
The Bucs aren’t good enough. They’re not a playoff team any longer, forget a Super Bowl. The arrow is pointing straight down.
Joe has no idea how many top-shelf free agents the Bucs were talking to yesterday but Evans bolting the franchise he once vowed to spend his entire career with could not have helped any Bucs sales pitches to free agents.
“Hey man, if your Hall of Fame receiver doesn’t have faith and doesn’t want to be there, why should I?”
For a lot of Bucs fans, Evans leaving yesterday was a major “I-told-you-so!” moment that has been simmering for years. Bucs fans, rightly if not understandably, erupted a year ago when then-Bucs offensive coordinator Liam Coen snuck out of town in the dark of the night to take over the Jags.
And who did Bucs fans blame? Well, of course, Todd Bowles, even though you and Joe know he wanted Coen to stay. But this time Team Glazer also took heat. How could you choose Todd Bowles over Liam Coen, Bucs fans hollered.
Then, last season, the Bucs collapsed in the second half of the season and Bowles not only had no answers, but erupted in a rare public display of anger after the choke job to Atlanta.
That third-and-28 moment very likely lit the fire under Evans to give up on his beloved Bucs. That tank job will live in Bucs fans’ souls for many, many years.
Evans’ departure signaled to the football world, loud and clear, the Bucs simply are not good enough and Evans didn’t see much of a near future for the team. If he did, he’d still be here, let’s just call it like we see it.
Watching all of this go down from his frigid perch in Chicago, “Big Cat” of Barstool Sports fame took to his FS1 platform this morning on “Wake Up Barstool” and absolutely torched Bowles. Like many Bucs fans, Big Cat believes if the Bucs had Coen running the team rather than Bowles, the Bucs would have been in the playoffs last year and Evans would still be wearing a Bucs uniform.
Big Cat basically said the only success Bowles has had is as a result of his predecessors. He rode the coattails of Rex Ryan for his only winning season with the Jets, Big Cat said. And Bowles was handed a Super Bowl squad by Bucco Bruce Arians and has done little with the Bucs, who are now going backwards.
(Yes Bucs, many fans think of a division title(s) the same way they look at a job at McDonald’s. It’s a stepping stone to bigger and better things, not a career goal and certainly not something to brag about in a cover letter.)
“I think we’re at the point now where there are certain moments in sports history that you can look back and you can say, ‘Wow, that changed a lot of things,'” Big Cat said. “The Herschel Walker trade for the Dallas Cowboys having started that dynasty.
“You can point to Tom Brady falling in the sixth round, starting the Patriots dynasty.
“And I think at this point, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers letting Liam Cohen walk out the door to keep a really bad coach in Todd Bowles will forever alter that franchise history, and possibly football history.”
Big Cat immediately got pushback from some of his co-hosts, thinking Big Cat was too harsh on Bowles, like he’s the second coming of lousy Lovie Smith or Rich Kotite. Big Cat quickly disagreed.
“I don’t think he’s a good coach!” Big Cat barked. “I don’t think he’s ever been a good coach!”
The contrast between Bowles and Coen is stark. Bowles is a guy who seems to like offense and often talks about scoring points but then too often puts the brakes on his offense.
Aside from spurts (most notably the 2020 postseason), his defenses are average at best. You know, keep the game close. He’s never developed an edge rusher, the most important player on a defense, and overall doesn’t seem to have any burning interest in an edge rush.
Coen, on the other hand, is aggressive, at times salty and in your face. Perhaps a budding offensive mastermind schooled in the Sean McKay brand of football. Cutting edge.
There’s not much cutting edge about Bowles.
The Bowles-Coen debate will last for decades in bars all over the Bay area. What might have been?
Joe knows some folks are triggered with this debate, claiming no team would unload a playoff coach for one of his coordinators.
Didn’t Team Glazer once do that? Canned Chucky, a Super Bowl-winning coach who had two division titles in his final four seasons, for a defensive coordinator-in-waiting because, in part, Team Glazer didn’t want to lose Raheem Morris?
The only way right now for Bucs fans to get over this period of mourning is for Bowles to take the Bucs not just to the playoffs, but to win games — plural — in the playoffs.
The world is watching to see how Bowles handles this.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers letting Liam Coen walk out the door was a monumental mistake pic.twitter.com/4U527YlR2M
— Wake Up Barstool (@wakeupbarstool) March 10, 2026