T.J. Ward Wonders How John Harbaugh Got Fired But Todd Bowles Did Not
January 15th, 2026
Not a Todd Bowles fan.
In a recent edition of “The Arena: Gridiron,” former Bucs cornerback Aqib Talib and former NFL quarterback Cody Kessler agreed that with three division titles under his belt, Todd Bowles both earned and deserved to return for a fifth season leading the Bucs.
But another former Bucs defender scoffed at the suggestion.
Ex-Bucs safety T.J. Ward audibly sighed when he heard Kessler and Talib make that argument for Bowles.
Ward, who won a Super Bowl ring with the Broncos, couldn’t believe the soft-pedaling by Talib and Kessler.
“What are we here to do?” Ward began. “We in this to win championships, not divisions.
“[A division title] is great. It helps you win championships.”
Part of the reason Ward wasn’t buying what Talib and Kessler were selling is he thinks the Bucs skated on two of those division titles by playing in a weak division.
“You can use that term, divisions, very lightly,” Ward said. “Because he went 8-9 (in 2022), 9-8 (in 2023). I give him 2024, 10-7, yeah. This year, 8-9.
“So you really winning the division based off of luck and what the other teams’ wins or losses and tiebreakers and all that?. You’re not really just going out there, going 14-2 and winning the division that way.”
Ward said he’d be willing to give Bowles a pass if it was the offense that let the team down. But instead, it was Bowles’ side of the ball.
“His specialty is defense,” Ward said. “Their defense was atrocious. Atrocious. You have to find ways [to fix a defense].
“As a defensive coordinator, lose a player there, you lose a player here, you’ve got to put guys in place to make plays and do what they do best. I really didn’t see him do that.
“If Harbaugh gotta go, then Bowles gotta go.”
But Bowles is staying.
While Talib felt Bowles had the street cred to stick around, Talib wondered why Baker Mayfield wasn’t catching some of the flak that was hitting Bowles.
Joe thinks that’s a fair point.
January 15th, 2026 at 9:01 am
Glazers. Sell Sell!!! New owners needed.
January 15th, 2026 at 9:02 am
Manchester Buccaneers.
January 15th, 2026 at 9:02 am
NOTHING short of a new head coach is ACCEPTABLE!
January 15th, 2026 at 9:04 am
He ain’t wrong.
January 15th, 2026 at 9:08 am
TJ Ward is a smart man. We all wonder the same thing.
January 15th, 2026 at 9:08 am
Spoken nothing but the absolute truth here in every way.
January 15th, 2026 at 9:10 am
Baker was not catching some of the flak because is the coaches responsibility to bench Baker when he is not helping the team due to his injuries!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2026 RINSE AND REPEAT
January 15th, 2026 at 9:13 am
TB is BA’s boy! That’s way he’s still here…heavy sigh
January 15th, 2026 at 9:16 am
If the Bucs are indeed keeping Bowles for this coming season which, we havenât heard Licht or the Glazers make that statement, they need to sign McDaniel tomorrow. Let him coach the offense unobstructed and, if he and the offense produce and Bowlesâs defense doesnât, we have our next head coach.
January 15th, 2026 at 9:18 am
Was the worst division for that long in the history of the NFL.
Would be way more impressive to win 3 wild cards than three division titles in the kiddie pool.
January 15th, 2026 at 9:19 am
Talib still seeing visions of cabs drivers in his head. Baker can only take so much flak. Heâs taking criticism every week but Bucs are stuck with him contractually plus there are no better options. There are endless options to replace Bowles
January 15th, 2026 at 9:20 am
Remember?
1995 Sam Wyche 7-9 Fired
started: 5-2 finished: 2-7
2025 Todd Bowles 8-9 Pat on the Head
started: 6-2 finished: 2-7
I don’t see the difference.
Of course daddy was running the team back them.
January 15th, 2026 at 9:29 am
Even being a ex-Buc, Talib and Kessler probably don’t follow the Bucs like “we” do. All they are really looking at are the stats, the wins/losses, the division titles, and they will agree regardless of the strength of the division, it’s hard to win in the NFL. If they followed like we do, they maybe feeling a bit differently.
Prior to the season, I appreciated Bowles ability to generate pressure when we didn’t have the D-line to do it independently, and yet this collapse down stretch, I was ready to move on. Collapsing has been a trend with Bowles teams, and unfortunately, this time he couldn’t dig himself out of it, and with a soft schedule having to play teams that were literally playing for nothing. Bowles appears to be consistently outcoached, and I’m now in agreement that we’ve seen his ceiling. Short of having a hall of fame roster his defenses just aren’t good enough. Don’t tell me Kancey was the lynch pin in all of this?
49ers are a great example of a team that actual had the lowest pressure rate of any football team in the NFL, while losing (2) elite playmakers on defense and yet somehow coaches figured out a way to get their defense off on 3rd downs and now they are into the second round of the playoffs. How does that happen?
January 15th, 2026 at 9:32 am
Ward said heâd be willing to give Bowles a pass if it was the offense that let the team down. But instead, it was Bowlesâ side of the ball.
âHis specialty is defense,â Ward said. âTheir defense was atrocious. Atrocious. You have to find ways [to fix a defense].
Thats the issue. If our defense was a top unit and we lost due to offensive ineptitude, I would have no problem keeping Todd. But his defense has been garbage for years. So we have to rely on a top offense to bail out Todds defense.
January 15th, 2026 at 9:33 am
If they fired Todd they would be the 9th team looking for a new head coach and a new OC. According to some on this site none of the really exceptional candidates for head coach would take this position as the Bucs ave a bad QB they are stuck with, bad tight ends and bad edge rushers and secondary. The Bucs will be lucky to get a good OC with all the vacancies let alone a HC.
January 15th, 2026 at 9:42 am
Bowles stopped being a defensive genius the year after the SB. Cooper Cupp – sound familiar ? Bowles should have been fired back then as DC right after that game. Instead somehow his buddy Arians got him promoted to head coachâŚ. The guy is a loser that throws his players under the bus. McDaniel could step in as HC tomorrow , take over the offense and hire a decent DC. However the Glazers are letting their pride get in the way and are determined to ride this team to the bottom. Oh and Licht also needs to go, but that wonât happen either.
January 15th, 2026 at 9:47 am
That is the only point to be made for his need to be fired…YOUR side of the ball, the defense was atrocious! So if he got rid of some coaches, and the new ones run his same inept evidently waaaay to hard to learn defense, what in the world thinks it will change!? I know drafting players might help, but will surely take them years to process and learn this challenging scheme, so ipso facto, Blows will be fired! Doesn’t he see/realize this?? I means sticking to your guns and going down with the ship is definitely one way to approach it…the other, which might actually save your ass, is to change it up….we all know which way he will proceed
January 15th, 2026 at 9:49 am
Harbaugh got stale, both from coaching the same team for almost 2 decades and within the locker room . And his QB wasnât backing him.
Though Toddâs message might be stale (no one here really knows unless youâre in the locker room), I donât think the two situations are fair to compare side by side
January 15th, 2026 at 9:55 am
When there’s a turd in the Bowles, you flush. It’s obvious
January 15th, 2026 at 9:55 am
Wow, that was a scorching get-together discussion about Todd. Some feeling the last game saved him. Probably so. And the thing is, they all like him.
January 15th, 2026 at 9:59 am
Yep!!! Like 99 percent of the fans been saying. R white even said bowels should not call plays but whatâs he know right đĽ´
Sure the 15 people who still want this guy as the coach will have something else to say
January 15th, 2026 at 10:01 am
Licht with another bungled decision. First it was letting Coen leave now its not canning Bowels and bringing in Harbaugh and Monken. I really wish the Glazers would sell to someone who actually cares about the fans. Guaranteed season tickets diminish next year, at least for Bucs fans. @joe I would love to know those numbers if and when they come out
January 15th, 2026 at 10:09 am
If Bowles had 17-2nd half double digit leads blown on his resume, and couldnât quite connect with his 2-Time MVP QB then yea Ravens ownership likely asked themselves why theyâre compensating the special talent and not getting special results as a team.
Harbaugh and Bowles have different problems, unique to the teams theyâre on. We donât have a defense put together like that Ravens defense, and we damn sure donât have a Lamar Jackson lvl of potential from the QB position lol
Agree on our defense playing the way they did and it being Bowlesâ specialty is and was a bad look, but when you consider we went into the bye week +5 in the turnover margin with 5 giveaways to 12 takeaways in 5 of our first 8 game.
Then coming out after the BYE and breaking even in that depeartment, 11 giveaways to 11 takeaways. You can start factoring in the offenses involvement in us finishing 8-9 as a team. We sucked enough in all 3 phases to go 2-7 down the stretch.
January 15th, 2026 at 10:14 am
The only thing I can think of, Todd is having an affair with Darcie Glazer.
January 15th, 2026 at 10:17 am
Ward said heâd be willing to give Bowles a pass if it was the offense that let the team down. But instead, it was Bowlesâ side of the ball.
âHis specialty is defense,â Ward said. âTheir defense was atrocious. Atrocious. You have to find ways [to fix a defense].
Hahahaha, I could not agree more!!!!
January 15th, 2026 at 10:17 am
All comparisons are not valid, or even useful. The only things Harbaugh and Bowles have in common is that they both coached in the NFL last year and both had teams that missed the playoffs. They do not even compete in the same conference, much less against each other. Similarly, to compare two teams in different divisions simply by W-L records does not tell anything about the comparative “strength” of either division. Prima facie, I would suspect that a division with a 14-2 [sic] winner is less competitive than one with a 9-8 winner.. The former probably swept his division and lost outside the division; at worst it was 4-2 in its division.
January 15th, 2026 at 10:18 am
Baker was injured. But Jason Licht signed a worthless POS Teddy to be a back up.
Well, as only Jason Licht can do…we couldn’t put Teddy out there when needed bc he stunk. Another wasted signing/money by that POS LOSER JASON LICHT.
Get a real back up. Get a real HC. Get a real GM.
The Glazers are crap owners
January 15th, 2026 at 10:19 am
Correction: “The only things …are….”
January 15th, 2026 at 10:19 am
HC Grover Says
“Glazers. Sell Sell!!! New owners needed.”
That’s ridiculous.
January 15th, 2026 at 10:20 am
Because of the
Bumbling 3 Stooges Brothers
January 15th, 2026 at 10:23 am
If the Bumbling Brothers had a tax attorney as Bad as Bowels has been as HC heâd be GONE like the wind !
January 15th, 2026 at 10:25 am
Can you imagine a OC comes here makes the offense top 5 like Coen did, and the defense plays terrible and they let the OC take a head coaching job somewhere else and keep Bowles again? What a nightmare. Glazers wouldnât make the same mistake twice right ? Then again itâs the glazers, theyâre clueless.
January 15th, 2026 at 10:26 am
Ward is right.
Bucs And Them Says:
…”If the Bucs are indeed keeping Bowles for this coming season which, we havenât heard Licht or the Glazers make that statement…”
That is a very good point. We’ve seen the media make the claim. Has Bowles even said it?
I can only think, though, that they would not be interviewing OC and ST candidates if they were going to replace Bowles. The new HC would certainly need to be a part of that process.
I think we’re stuck with Bowles, but I’m hoping we’re not. If anyone is hired for a coaching spot, that would pretty much lock Bowles in.
January 15th, 2026 at 10:28 am
I can’t believe the blasphemy! He’s talking about our Defensive Guru!
Killing me!
He just fired all the weak links!
Now this ship will sail!
January 15th, 2026 at 10:29 am
accurate!! and for three years, the whole back into the defense runs around confused !!
January 15th, 2026 at 10:30 am
They were holding the GENIUS down!
January 15th, 2026 at 10:32 am
If you want to compare Bowles to another head coach, how about Zac Taylor. His team also finished third and he’s the only coach left in the AFC North?
January 15th, 2026 at 10:34 am
HARBAUGH WAS OT FIRED! He quit. He is still under contract for 1 more year and another option year. Any team that wants him would have to trade for him.
Geez, Google is right there, people.
January 15th, 2026 at 10:34 am
Good takes by TJ Ward. Bowles is benefiting from misplaced trust in Bowles by the Glazer clan probably justified by the fact that they already owe fired coaches and managers at Man U over $40 million bucks. It is all about the coin, probably also why the Bucs have not made a big free agent splash in a while, all about the coin.
January 15th, 2026 at 10:36 am
Leave if it up to Mr. white Guilt himself – WarrenBrooksLynch to be an apologiest for Lamar. Pop quiz: What is Harbaughs playoff record pre Lamar, and how many superbowls does he have pre lamar. Question 3 – what is harbaughs playoff record with Lamar. Once you answer those questions, ask yourself if it is Harbaughs fault
January 15th, 2026 at 10:38 am
If only the Outback Boys had been able to buy the franchise!
January 15th, 2026 at 10:41 am
FortMeyersDave
I very much doubt ManU and the Bucs are the same business and share the same cash flow. So being out 40 million in one business really doesnât effect what the other business does or their cash flow. I very much doubt the Glazers are coming out of pocket for their cap for either team (business). That money âlivesâ in the business.
If they are coming out of pocket for their businesses, well the Glazers have much bigger problems
January 15th, 2026 at 10:45 am
“While Talib felt Bowles had the street cred to stick around, Talib wondered why Baker Mayfield wasnât catching some of the flak that was hitting Bowles.
Joe thinks thatâs a fair point.”
Are you throwing Baker under the bus to cover for Todd????
January 15th, 2026 at 10:57 am
The Emperor has NO CLOTHES!
January 15th, 2026 at 11:00 am
glazers dont care about fans like art blank does in Atlanta/
January 15th, 2026 at 11:00 am
Bowles verified to the TBT
He is OFFICALLY back. It’s been reported.
January 15th, 2026 at 11:01 am
âŚ.Cooper KuppâŚ
January 15th, 2026 at 11:02 am
@ Jimbo – Harbaugh was FIRED