Pressure is on.
As Joe documented after last season, Bucs coach Todd Bowles is not a popular man among the rank and file of Bucs fans.
It doesn’t seem personal at all. It’s just that the personable Bowles does not meet many fans’ idea of a strong NFL coach who has solid job security.
Then throw in the fact that Bowles, a defensive guy, doesn’t exactly have a strong defense, and this, among many things, is just kindling to the anti-Bowles fire stoked by many Bucs fans.
In typing a preview of the NFC South landfill, Nick Shook of NFL.com apparently doesn’t believe Bowles’ seat is hot, but Shook also doesn’t believe Bowles’ job is secure if the Bucs don’t turn things around this fall.
Bowles’ seat is warm
Near the end of a frustrating, somewhat-inexplicable collapse in 2025, plenty of folks expected the Buccaneers to move on from Todd Bowles and start fresh with a new coach. That didn’t happen, of course, and Bowles is back to justify the organization’s support in 2026. If the Bucs struggle like they did last season — with Bowles’ defense finishing 20th in points allowed — he’ll likely be out of a job and Tampa Bay will be facing a potentially significant shift in identity for the first time since Tom Brady arrived in 2020.
Some thought it’s precisely what the Buccaneers needed after 2025 and pointed toward Evans’ departure as proof that things weren’t right at One Buc Place. The team will have to embark on the new campaign without two franchise legends in Evans and linebacker Lavonte David, who retired after 14 seasons, another concerning sign about Tampa’s trajectory. It will be up to Bowles to prove the concerns are overblown.
Well, Joe thinks the identity of the Bucs changed when Bowles was promoted to succeed Super Bowl-winning Bucs coach Bucco Bruce Arians. The offense certainly changed. Then Brady retired and the Bucs signed Baker Mayfield. Then, the identity of the team really changed.
Bowles has a hard job in front of him, Joe believes. He and the Bucs are banking on three rookies on defense to play like seasoned vets. That’s a tall task in itself.
Then throw in the fact that Bowles has never developed a double-digit sacks edge rusher, which rookie Rueben Bain might be (Joe still can’t picture Bain being an outside linebacker), and, well, Joe doesn’t like betting against never.
Bucs fans who holler for Bowles’ head should remember the following: The Bucs had a losing record in 2025. Since Team Glazer bought the Bucs in the mid-90s, only Chucky has survived back-to-back losing seasons.
And Chucky had street cred: He got Team Glazer their first Vince Lombardi Trophy.