Monumental effort wasted.
Joe was having flashbacks to 27 years ago.
Late in the Bucs’ loss to the Bears tonight, pinch-hitting NBC play-by-play man Noah Eagle referred to the Bucs’ defense as “heroic.” (For those unaware, Eagle does Saturday night Notre Dame/Big Ten games for NBC and Joe has heard him several times. He is excellent and will someday replace Mike Tirico when the veteran broadcaster retires.)
The performance reminded Joe of the 1999 NFC title game when the Bucs lost to the Rams, when the Bucs defense may have played the best game Joe had ever seen. The Bucs lost 11-6.
No, tonight’s defense was not perfect or as good as the aforementioned defense. It gave up two quick touchdowns in the first nine minutes, and it gave up a busted play late to set the Bears up for a game-winning field goal.
But for about 49 minutes, the last time Joe saw a Bucs defense play this well was the Super Bowl for the 2020 season. Or the 1999 NFC title game.
It was obscene how the Bucs offense pissed away this game. Time after time, the defense forced the Bears off the field, forced _five_ turnovers, and the special teams got a blocked punt.
And the Bucs could not capitalize.
Joe wanted to throw up. Talk about a disgusting offense. Shameful. Irresponsible. A fireable offense.
Back in 1999, Team Glazer was so outraged about the offense, just a couple of days after the loss, they ran then-offensive coordinator Mike Shula.
Team Glazer needs to seriously consider the same fate for current Bucs offensive coordinator Zac Robinson. Because this guy is going to drag this team down, and it’s NFC South landfill title hopes with him.