September 26th, 2026
Pressure is on.
Joe has been fortunate over the years to have many interactions with KitKat-eating Bucs coach Todd Bowles. And he has people conned.
His public demeanor portrays a man with slightly more personality than a houseplant. That’s not the Bowles that Joe knows. Far from it.
In fact, away from cameras, Bowles is borderline gregarious. Joe tells that to people and they think Joe is out of his mind. Fans cannot believe it. But people can only see what they see.
(If anyone caught Bowles trying to hum “Hail to the Victors” at Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield a week ago as Mayfield (Oklahoma grad) lost a bet to Bowles (whose son Troy is a starting linebacker at Michigan), that’s more like the Bowles that Joe knows.)
But the Bowles that most fans see is the guy who is (mostly) as wooden as an oak tree at the podium and a guy who stands on the sidelines looking like he’s in a trance.
For most fans, the word “urgency” never applies to Bowles, not even remotely. Because the public personality of Bowles doesn’t suggest he puts urgency on anything.
But that is exactly the word Bowles used for tomorrow’s game against the Vikings.
“There is definitely a sense of urgency,” Bowles said. “There is always a guy here or there, whether it’s a penalty or whether it’s a guy making a mental mistake, but we’ve got to correct that part of it.”
In the eyes of the Joe typing this here story, the Bucs’ backs are against the wall. Short of a league-wide work stoppage in the NFL, the Bucs have never made the playoffs after starting 0-2. And Joe doesn’t foresee the NFLPA staging a walkout in the next three months.
(That same work stoppage in 1982 flung the doors open for the NFL’s dregs to back door their way into the postseason as Neil Lummox Lomax and the perennial loser Cardinals made the playoffs, too. Over half, 16 of the then-28 NFL teams, advanced to the playoffs that winter.)
And if the Bucs go to 0-3, their playoff hopes are microscopic.
On the flip side, if the Bucs pull off an upset tomorrow, Joe can easily see the Bucs going 2-2 as a week from tomorrow, the Packers come to town. Green Bay looked terrible as they were curb-stomped by the Dixie Chicks Thursday night.
So yeah, there better damn well be urgency tomorrow. Otherwise, Bucs fans will largely start looking toward the draft and studying potential candidates to replace Bowles in January.