Columnist calls for termination.

Well, this really isn’t in the spirit of Christmas.

In the past three weeks, Bucs coach Todd Bowles has gone from a punching bag for a loud sect of Bucs fans to the most hated man in Tampa Bay since tyrant Vince Naimoli owned the Rays.

TikTok is full of videos with Bucs fans growing hoarse hollering for the Bucs to can Bowles. Local sports radio in recent days is nothing but non-stop calls and texts for hours at a time with a singular focus: “Fire Bowles.”

Watching the Bucs’ loss to the Stinking Panthers in a watering hole in an exclusive Tampa neighborhood on Sunday, whenever FOX cameras focused on Bowles, the normally well-behaved if not well-heeled Bucs fans in this establishment began hollering and cussing and begging the Bucs to rid themselves of Bowles.

Joe has really never seen anything like it. It’s not as if Bowles is a total jackass like Naimoli was. Bowles is one of the kindest, funniest guys you can meet (no, really).

But fans are results-oriented. And they do not like Bowles. Throw in how the team has collapsed since the bye, and there are now legions of volunteers who will help Bowles pack.

That is, if the Bucs want to move on from him.

Respected NFL analyst Ben Solak of ESPN has joined most Bucs fans. In Solak’s mind, there is no logical reason why the Bucs should give Bowles a fifth-chance to get the Bucs to the Super Bowl.

Solak noted that, yes, Baker Mayfield’s sharp decline is a concern, but he’s not the Bucs’ biggest problem. No, Solak typed, the biggest problem is Bowles. Solak thinks the Bucs should inspire change and fire him because he is dragging down the team.

Coach Todd Bowles has struggled to figure out the Buccaneers’ defense for an unacceptably long period of time. While there have been reasons for poor play in various pockets over the past few seasons, a good defensive coach should eventually get a stretch of good defensive play. Over the past three seasons, the Buccaneers are 22nd in defensive success rate and 22nd in defensive EPA per play. Eight of the 10 teams below them have seen at least a defensive coordinator switch, if not a head coaching change, in that time period.

Bowles’ team philosophy is clearly reflected in how his defense has performed over this large sample. The Bucs are 26th in EPA per dropback faced but fifth in EPA per rush faced; they are 25th and fourth in the same pass/run split by success rate. Independent of player injury/matchup and team offensive performance, stopping the run at all costs has left the Buccaneers’ pass defense liable.

Without an above-average defense over the past three seasons, it’s difficult to figure out what Bowles is adding to the Buccaneers. By his own acknowledgment, the team had lost intensity and focus, and the Bucs needed to look in the mirror before the Panthers game in Week 16. They did yet lost that game. The Bucs are 30th in fourth-down decision EPA, ahead of only the Jets and the Titans. Bowles had an enormous hand in the Buccaneers’ run-heavy offensive approach this week, and he probably has had that influence for a while. In five of the Bucs’ past eight games, they’ve had run rates 10 percentage points over expectation, per NFL Next Gen Stats.

Directionally and in execution, Bowles is not carrying the water a modern NFL coach needs to carry.

Solak went on to type that the Bucs are a “disaster” right now, but a disaster, Solak noted, can lead to good things “if it forces necessary philosophic or staff changes.”

For those wanting Bowles gone immediately, Joe cautions that will get you nothing but a lump of coal in your stocking. Team Glazer has never had a coaching change before the end of a regular season (that doesn’t mean behind the scenes, they haven’t started a coaching search well before the end of a season). Joe has zero expectations Team Glazer will break from their practice in the next two weeks.

And Joe isn’t sure Bowles will be removed. Joe’s not saying that shouldn’t happen. Remember, Joe’s last name is not “Glazer.”

It hasn’t been that merry of a Christmas for Bucs fans.