Todd Bowles Seems To Think Strong Start To 2025 Was A Bit Of A Mirage
February 25th, 2026
Strange response.
There is hardly a day that goes by that Joe doesn’t think of how the Bucs beat Seattle in the Pacific Northwest last season.
The Seahawks, who went on to win the Super Bowl, had maybe the best defense in the league. And the Bucs, without Mike Evans, without Bucky Irving, without Cody Mauch and Luke Goedeke and with a hobbled Chris Godwin, who couldn’t finish the game, hung 38 points on Seattle.
That turned out to be the high-water mark for their season. They were never the same team after that, eventually losing seven of their final nine games and missing the playoffs for the first time this decade.
So with Bucs coach Todd Bowles speaking to the local pen and mic club at the Indiana Convention Center for the first time since his season-ending postmortem, Joe figured Bowles had ample time to watch tape and give Joe a reason for the collapse.
Joe mentioned to Bowles how the Bucs were one of if not the hottest team in the NFL. Bowles basically told Joe to slow down. The Bucs were not playing great, despite being in the running for the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs.
“We didn’t execute,” Bowles told Joe. “Even at the beginning of the season when we went 6-2, they were some hard-fought ballgames. It was not like we were blowing people out.
“We were kind of winning because we were doing the right things at the end of the ballgame. And I don’t think we did the right things in the second half [of the season] at the end of ballgames. Whether that was special teams, defense or offense, from a coaching standpoint and a playing standpoint we just have to be better than that.”
This was a weird response from Bowles. Was he trying to say the Bucs were just lucky? That the team wasn’t playing well but got the right bounce of the football?
The Bucs hung with the Eagles (special teams did the Bucs in that day), won at Houston, riddled Seattle for 38 points, beat San Francisco.
That’s what good teams do: Beat good teams. But to hear Bowles, the Bucs were winning with mirrors until the mirror cracked. Strange.
February 25th, 2026 at 5:32 am
Is anyone surprised? I’ll be so glad when we move on from him.
February 25th, 2026 at 5:53 am
Todd mirage bowles he keeps telling everyone he is bad but glazers won’t listen it’s a bucs life.
February 25th, 2026 at 6:00 am
…..and they say black clothes are supposed to have a slimming effect……
February 25th, 2026 at 6:12 am
Bowles isn’t a coach. He is just a spectator like many here. A coach makes adjustments during a game to help his team. He isn’t going to suddenly become something he isn’t. Hard to believe the Glazer’s allow this to continue for another year.
February 25th, 2026 at 6:15 am
When your own head coach calls a fast start a “mirage,” he’s not offering insight, he’s confessing he never understood why it happened. If it was fool’s gold, that’s on Todd Bowles for failing to build on it; if it was real, it’s on him for letting it evaporate. Either way, it’s not analysis, it’s an indictment of his leadership.
February 25th, 2026 at 6:18 am
Seems to me that he was saying that the Bucs didn’t play well the entire season and that they only won all of those games at the beginning because they somehow became super focused in the 4th quarter, eliminating the mistakes they had made early in those games and something they were not able to do the rest of the season.
In other words, he is saying that the second third of the season Bucs were the real Bucs.
February 25th, 2026 at 6:45 am
@ Gipper @ Wouldn’t pay a single Buc
That sums it up perfectly.
February 25th, 2026 at 6:49 am
bowles might be warming people up to the idea that the bucs are not that good…because he might be well aware of a potential soft tank for 26…or he already knows the bucs aren’t investing in the team heavily outside of the standard draft moves…and the future model under his tenure is looking bleaker these days…
like maybe he knows 6-2 is going to be a rally tough task to replicate with his group of stooges
February 25th, 2026 at 6:50 am
And yet here he is, back for another season. Inspire mediocrity
February 25th, 2026 at 6:50 am
“We did a lot of things right in that fast start, especially the players. Including finding ways to win against quality opponents. It’s up to me to find out why we didn’t carry that over in the second half of the season”
It’s really that simple. I’m starting to get the feeling that he’s not completely with it when it comes to understanding his surroundings and audience. I’m trying to be nice but this interaction along with we’ve done what we can do and tossing his fired OC under the buss aren’t good looks at all.
February 25th, 2026 at 6:53 am
The Bowles look of bewilderment.
February 25th, 2026 at 7:02 am
So our roster sucked in 2025? Not much of an endorsement for our 2026 season either, is it?
February 25th, 2026 at 7:07 am
Youhavegottobekiddingme.
February 25th, 2026 at 7:18 am
not surprised at all!!!!
baker was lucky with his “magic” in the first half of the season, when there wasnt any pressure but baker wasnt so lucky when game mattered lol….
too many 4th quarter INTs in the month of DEC doomed us
GO BUCS!!!!
February 25th, 2026 at 7:22 am
if bowles thinks like this, it explains why he was retained and why moves were never made at the trade deadline…
bowles, licht and glazer boys must have known we were lucky winning the games we did lol…
GO BUCS!!!!
February 25th, 2026 at 7:32 am
This is why he is not a great head coach. He did not know how to handle success last season early, then in the second half he did not know how to properly handle failure. His inability to correctly assess the season is a big indicator. Either he can’t see what was going on, or he is saying things he does not believe in order to get a handle on the narrative of the season. Either way people can see through it and know that he just doesn’t have what it takes to be anything more than mediocre.
February 25th, 2026 at 7:44 am
Did the Glazers do the right thing and fire cluelss Todd yet?
February 25th, 2026 at 7:52 am
And some wonder why 90%+ of fans can’t stomach another season with the fraud. He’s the biggest liability in the entire organization. The Glazers are an embarrassment.
February 25th, 2026 at 7:55 am
Ah yes, there’s that photo of Todd inspiring mediocrity.
February 25th, 2026 at 8:07 am
Such an ironic photo
February 25th, 2026 at 8:24 am
I think a better question would be WHY do the Bucs have a mid-season melt down every freaking year. This is a very disturbing pattern for three years in a row. Hard to blame it on anything but coaching!
February 25th, 2026 at 8:34 am
Does he have any credibility left?
Asking for a friend…
February 25th, 2026 at 8:38 am
He inspires me, to change HC and DC.
February 25th, 2026 at 9:03 am
Todd Bowles … ‘“We were kind of winning because we were doing the right things at the end of the ballgame. And I don’t think we did the right things in the second half [of the season] at the end of ballgames.”
If some of you would stop whining so much about Todd Bowles being an abysmal coach and take the time to analyze what he said, you MIGHT find that you agree with him. But I know that’s hard to do when one of the Joe’s writes “This was a weird response from Bowles. Was he trying to say the Bucs were just lucky?’
I don’t see anything weird at all about TB’s response. Were we doing the right things at the end of the ballgames, or were we just lucky? Or both?
o Game 1 – Falcons (23-20 win): Bucs scored the go-ahead TD with 1:02 left, then MISSED the extra point kick, then let the Falcons march 60 yds in 7 plays to the Tampa 26, where they MISSED a 44-yd FG that would’ve tied it. Nah, no luck there.
o Game 2 – Texans (20-19 win): Texans went ahead 19-14 with 2:10 left in the game, then Bucs got it at the Tampa 20 with 2:04 left in the game. Baker drove us 80 yds for the winning TD, scrambling for 15 yds for a 1st down (on a 4th-and-10) plus hitting on 7-of-9 passes for 63 yds. Bucs scored with 9 secs left. Nah, no luck there.
o Game 3 – Jets (29-27 win): Jets went ahead 27-26 with 1:49 left in the game when they blocked a Bucs’ FG attempt (that would’ve put the game out of reach for us) and they ran it back for a TD. Bucs got the ball at our own 34-yd line after the kickoff, then moved to the Jets 18-yd line thanks to only 2 completions (one 28 yds, the other 20 yds). Chase kicked the winning FG with 3 secs left to end the game. Nah, no luck there either; perfectly planned.
o Game 4 – Eagles (31-25 loss): Bucs punted on the 1st possession, but it was blocked by the Eagles & returned for a TD. Eagles up 7-0 with only 2 mins gone in the ballgame. We lost by 6 pts, but actually had 2 great opportunities in the 4th qtr to win it. Our defense held the Eagles to THREE 3-and-outs in that 4th qtr, with one of those outs being a 2-pt Safety. Bucs offense had 2 great opportunities to win it, but Baker was intercepted once & next came up short on a 4th-and-9 at the Eagles 37-yd line. Bucs dominated in the stats column, but our 2 turnovers condemned us.
So at that point we were 3-1 on the season, having won 3 games in the last minute of each by a TOTAL of 6 pts, then losing the 4th game by a total of 6 pts at the end of the game.
Compare that against what Todd Bowles said … ‘We were kind of winning because we were doing the right things at the end of the ballgame.’
Very true. And we were also lucky as all git-out. The same could be said of the Seattle game (38-35 win on the last play of the game) but not the next 3 games. We were solid against the 49ers in our 30-19 win, but atrocious against the Lions in our 24-9 loss. And we also played solid football against the Saints in our 23-3 win. After the BYE, it was a different team for a variety of reasons (not one in particular).
February 25th, 2026 at 9:04 am
Bowles consistently positions himself as an innocent bystander to his defense’s ineptness on the field rather than putting his players in position to utilize their abilities. Clearly he was an innocent bystander for the special team’s coaching and performance. I’m sure he had nothing to do with the selection of Grizzard for OC.
February 25th, 2026 at 9:07 am
“This was a weird response from Bowles. Was he trying to say the Bucs were just lucky? That the team wasn’t playing well but got the right bounce of the football?”
No, it means we were living on the edge and how we were winning games early wasn’t a sustainable model of success for a team that ended the season having 12 of it’s 17 games decided by 1 score or less.
Even the “comebacks” were partly due to our inconsistency as a team.
There were signs.
February 25th, 2026 at 9:12 am
BucU … ‘And some wonder why 90%+ of fans can’t stomach another season with the fraud. He’s the biggest liability in the entire organization.’
As I remember, when the Bucs were 5-1 or 6-2 Joe did a Todd Bowles confidence poll. He was up 80-90% Confident/Very Confident at that time. Pretty much the REVERSE of what you wrote.
Then the losing started, and the confidence level shot downward. ‘Fans’ can be quite fickle. Win & they’re behind you 100%. Lose & you’re all by yourself, buck naked. Seems to be very little difference between how ‘fans’ view coaches and how they view American politicians.
February 25th, 2026 at 9:14 am
“o Game 2 – Texans (20-19 win): Texans went ahead 19-14 with 2:10 left in the game, then Bucs got it at the Tampa 20 with 2:04 left in the game. Baker drove us 80 yds for the winning TD, scrambling for 15 yds for a 1st down (on a 4th-and-10) plus hitting on 7-of-9 passes for 63 yds. Bucs scored with 9 secs left. Nah, no luck there.”
We sat on 14 points from the 9:48 mark of the 2nd quarter to the 2:10 mark in the 4th qtr. In the 7 possession after scoring on our first 2 possession, we gained a net 148 yards, punted 6 times with one getting blocked and missed an FG.
Wild part about this is, you look at the Dolphins game and there was the same exact offensive lull with worse ball security. Houston was the 2nd game of the year. Miami was the 2nd to last game of the year.
We were living dangerously as a team
February 25th, 2026 at 9:15 am
Warren Brooks Lynch … ‘There were signs’.
Definitely, for those who take the time (like yourself) to analyze what went on. Your conclusion that ‘it wasn’t a sustainable model for success’ perfectly sums it up. Kudos!
February 25th, 2026 at 9:34 am
Warren Brooks Lynch … ‘We were living dangerously as a team’.
Bucs had 12 games that ended with a spread of 6 pts or less. We were 4-1 winning those close games prior to the BYE, but 2-5 losing those close games after the BYE.
Was it just a matter of good luck – bad luck before & after the BYE? Or were we doing SOMETHING DIFFERENT after the BYE that kept us from turning those close losses into wins? I was at the Arizona game when we won 20-17 and I’ll be honest: the Bucs sucked; Cardinals should’ve won easily. We also could’ve easily lost the last game of the season (our 16-14 win against the Panthers) if LVD hadn’t come up with that fumble recovery in the 4th qtr.
IOW we played terrible in that 2nd half of the season. Someone mentioned the other day that our practices in that 2nd half of the season were just a lot of walk-throughs because so many key guys were hurt and couldn’t practice. Personally I think that is very likley the root cause (not the only one however).
February 25th, 2026 at 9:42 am
After the bucs dropped the 38 the head coach rallied the troops for Seattle and the rest is history….Bowles? I dont know
February 25th, 2026 at 9:54 am
I can’t take it anymore. There’s no way to flip this into a positive. What a shame we are stuck with this utter moron.
February 25th, 2026 at 9:58 am
“Bucs had 12 games that ended with a spread of 6 pts or less. We were 4-1 winning those close games prior to the BYE, but 2-5 losing those close games after the BYE.”
“Or were we doing SOMETHING DIFFERENT after the BYE that kept us from turning those close losses into wins?”
Defense Rules
We started turning the ball over more, and more frequently.
That 6-2 stretch of games we had 5 giveaways in 3 of our first 8 games.
-2 vs Philly(which featured the first of Bakers’ 2nd half turnovers)
-2 @ Detroit
– That 1 fumble @Nola that ruined a shutout as the Aints cashed it in for 3 points.
The 2-7 stretch of games, we gave the ball away 11 times in 7 of our last 9 games.
Game-to-game context and situations aside, just looking at that makes how a team dropped 8 of it’s last 11 games, makes a little more sense. As we turned the ball over twice as much in our last 9 than we did in our first 8 games.
Add that to our struggles on offense, lapses on defense, and special teams woes on top of being a team that was struggling to find traction in most it’s games, it takes some of the shock off how our season went & ended.
That’s why I maintain, the mid-to-end of season slide started in Detroit. Struggling against a backup secondary. Aidan Hutchinson barely touched Mayfield, and still managed to just plod around the field with Mike and even moreso after he got hurt.
Lions and the Saints game we scored a combined 25 points as an offense possessing the ball 23 times(22 minus a kneel down) in 8 quarters of football.
The Cardinals game played out like the Texans game. Just flat, unbranded, and lethargic football but again, made the right plays late in order to win the game. People are just less inclined to give our defense any credit, because by extension it means giving Bowles/the devil his due. That’s the corner some Buc fans have painted themselves into, and it clouds their perspective.
You hear some fans talk about Bowles and Licht, you’d think this was a soap opera/telenovela and not a football franchise.
“All My Cannonballs”
“General Advent Health Center”
“As The Rudder Turns”
February 25th, 2026 at 10:04 am
“Was it just a matter of good luck – bad luck before & after the BYE? Or were we doing SOMETHING DIFFERENT after the BYE that kept us from turning those close losses into wins?”
Combination of factors this team couldn’t overcome, some if the health of the roster. Some of it was the play of the team, specifically the offense turning it over twice as much in our last 9 games compared to just 5 in our first 8 games, and carry over from game to game of the same issues.
This team would hit lulls almost weekly executing, where we’re on the field kind of just going through the motions or as the old school coaches would say “bird-doggin” or “burning daylight”
February 25th, 2026 at 10:12 am
Think how bad the Jets were… and it took a last second score to beat them
February 25th, 2026 at 11:01 am
3rd and 28
February 25th, 2026 at 12:09 pm
“3rd and 28”
Baaaaaaaaaaaaaa
February 25th, 2026 at 1:42 pm
It was a mirage coach and some of us were trying to raise the alarm re: the offense BUT the Swiss cheese, everything is Todd’s fault and the defense is the only problem brigade didn’t want to hear it.
And They still dont.
We were not good offensively to begin the year either. Hero ball last minute comebacks was never a sustainable strategy. Baker knew it and the team knew it. Seems like only the defense sucks I hate Todd crew couldn’t see the real issue/s.
February 25th, 2026 at 6:20 pm
The Bucs hung with the Eagles
———-
Was I watching a different game that day?
February 25th, 2026 at 7:37 pm
As I recall, as HC Todd was responsible for the offense, defense and Special teams. He was just more responsible for the defense as he refused to give that job to a professional. The blame is deserved unless you’d like to bring Licht’s total abdication of mid-year personnel additions. Oh and thinking his LB group was adequate at the beginning. Oh and signing off on Grizz instead of a professional OC.
February 25th, 2026 at 9:07 pm
I said it here when it was happening- even when they win it is not sustainable football, it’s entertaining football. Maybe the blitz gets there, maybe it doesn’t. Maybe Baker scrambles and converts a 3rd and long, maybe he doesn’t. That’s not failing to do the right things at the end of games the second half of the season – that is the law of averages for low probability tactics catching up.
February 25th, 2026 at 11:51 pm
Todd has never been accountable for his shortcomings. He seems to blame the players for lack of talent and/or execution and when push came to shove; he fired his coaching staff and has gone out of his way to point out how Grizzard was not ready for the job and actually alluding to facts that he may have got involved with the O when he noticed certain plays practiced during the week utilized were not run during the game. Another spin on this is that Todd wanted to keep his atrocious D off of the field so he told Grizz to go turtle ball control which reared its ugly head down the stretch, particularly in that loss at Carolina. Granted, a bad OL and gimpy Baker certainly did not help but the O became predictable and this seems to have coincided when Bowles decided to help out his struggling coordinator…..
February 26th, 2026 at 9:01 am
If those games were a mirage, then so were the games in prior seasons where Baker gutted out unscripted runs to pull off a win. Coaching had nothing to do with those wins or as he says…”They were a mirage”. So subtract those “mirage” games from Bowles record and he would have miss the playoffs every season and been rightfully fired a season or so ago.
February 27th, 2026 at 8:52 am
Why he still has a job as a mystery to me