Bucs Schedule: The Good
May 17th, 2026
Ending his AFC North curse?
When Joe first heard of the Bucs’ opening day opponent, one thing immediately popped in Joe’s head.
“Joe Burrow.”
Burrow is one of the most dangerous quarterbacks. And the thought of Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins matching up against (potentially) Benjamin Morrison and Zyon McCollum with Burrow pulling the trigger positively frightens Joe.
However, a man from Cincinnati with deep Bengals ties is all but predicting the Bucs will be eating a W when Week 1 ends.
John Breech of CBS is the son of long-time Bengals punter Jim Breech (1979-1992). And he’s seen first-hand how Cincinnati coach Zac Taylor regularly doesn’t have the Bengals ready to start a season. Therefore, Todd Bowles may finally get his first win over an AFC South team.
Breech believes Bowles and the Bucs could start the season 3-0.
The Bucs will definitely have a chance to get off to a hot start with their first three games coming against the Bengals, Browns and Vikings. In Week 1, they’ll face a Bengals team that’s just 2-5 in season openers under Zac Taylor. In Week 2, they’ll get a Browns team that will have a new head coach. And in Week 3, they’ll be facing a Vikings team that will likely have a new starting quarterback. That makes all three of those games winnable …
Joe isn’t overly worried about the Vikings. Joe’s never been much of a Kyler Murray fan in the NFL and J.J. McCarthy might be the most overrated quarterback since the turn of the century (unless you get your rocks off with McCarthy’s quality handoffs).
The Browns only worry Joe because new Browns coach Todd Monken is a damn good coach.
(No, Joe isn’t worried about Myles Garrett because Tristan Wirfs will take care of him.)
But then again, there’s Bowles’ AFC North curse. Bowles, however, always has the Bucs ready to play when the season starts. Taylor? Not so much.
May 17th, 2026 at 11:40 am
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May 17th, 2026 at 11:49 am
screenshot it….and the bears game is primetime so im iffy on that one but think we’ll pull it out.
May 17th, 2026 at 11:59 am
Week 1: at Cincinnati – L
Week 2: CLEVELAND – L
Week 3: MINNESOTA (afternoon game) – L
Week 4: GREEN BAY – W
Week 5: at Dallas (Thursday night) – L
Week 6: PITTSBURGH (Aaron Rogers) – L
Week 7: at Carolina – W
Week 8: ATLANTA – W
Week 9: at Chicago – W
Week 10: BYE WEEK
Week 11: at Detroit (Cold) – L
Week 12: CAROLINA — (Monday night) – L
Week 13: CHARGERS — W
Week 14: at Baltimore L
Week 15: SAINTS – W
Week 16: at Atlanta – L
Week 17: RAMS – L
Week 18: at New Orleans L
If they win 7, it will be impressive!
May 17th, 2026 at 12:13 pm
I about fell off my chair when the Vikings drafted JJ McCarthy in the 1st round. Anyone who watched Michigan games knew he wasn’t gonna be “all that.”
May 17th, 2026 at 12:27 pm
I am with MadMax except , I am in Chicago and the Bucs never play well here. I have my ticket to the game lined up, but I expect them to lose that one. Hope I am wrong. Maybe I need therapy after being there when the legendary Mitch Trubisky torched that idiot Mike Smiths defense with six touchdown passes…
May 17th, 2026 at 12:38 pm
tye –
saying it’s cold in detroit is just wacky dude…please delete your account and never post again…go follow the westminster dog show
May 17th, 2026 at 12:51 pm
If the defense can improve to a mid level unit and O line stays healthy there are only 5 games that the Bucs will lose. Still wish Licht would find a decent veteran CB or two! Oh, and yeah and the inside of Ford field gets cold in November….????? lol.
May 17th, 2026 at 12:55 pm
i’m going to stand by my early on analysis and keep it short and sweet……..
we must go 3-1 in the opening 4 games, or the first quarter of the season…we must come flying out the gate like greyhounds while others are still adjusting and working out the kinks…
we somehow are going to probably have to win 3 of the last 4…so a very strong 3-1 finish as well…
and in the meat and potater tots of the season…weeks 5 thru 14…we must somehow find a way to pull 4 wins out of that very tough batch…so we will need 4 wins in the 2nd and 3rd quarters of the season…
thus squeezing out the miraculous 10 wins to take the division and go to the playoffs…
tall order folks………tall order
(now if we can somehow heat up and pull a 5th win out of the 2nd and 3rd quarters of the season, we will be able to breathe easier – and it enables us to potentially go 2-2 during the 1st or 4th quarter of the season. taking some of that pressure off, to have to go 3-1 to start and finish the season)
the road to 10 with this schedule looks tough…
i have use at 9-8 for another classic bowles season of rollercoastering
May 17th, 2026 at 1:13 pm
I can’t put Todd down for his post bye and mid season trends, then not tip my cap to his early season trend of getting early wins.
I believe it is in part due to Todd not changing a whole lot between seasons, there is something to be said for not changing coaches correlating with faster starts unless a team really upgraded and breathed new life into their players.
I believe it’s also due to players being fired up and having their best stuff after a long offseason. By time mid season rolls around, guys are feeling the mental and physical wear and tear.
So I do think this is a super favorable start to the season and 3-0 should be the expectation while taking it one game at a time.
This of course all hinges on coming through camp and preseason healthy!
If the D is intact, Kancey, Vea, Bain, Diaby are all full strength… we better see early Ws or it could be a long year.
May 17th, 2026 at 1:58 pm
You’re on the right track Saskbucs but it’s actually injuries that pile up that give us fits by midseason. If we can avoid those, we will be in business. À team that starts strong doesn’t have injuries yet. Now with a deeper team they may not hurt as much, but if we don’t get another startable corner that’s a position that can come back to bite us like 2 years ago. Let’s hope we do.
May 17th, 2026 at 2:00 pm
After Stefanski was hired by Atlanta, Baker all but guaranteed two Falcons wins as part of his Cleveland Revenge Tour. My guess is same goes for Cleveland when we play the Browns.
So that’s three wins right there. 7-7 the rest of the way puts the Bucs at 10-7.
Of course, if Baker loses any of those games he will have some splaining to do, eh Lucy?
If he wins … well, it’s just the Falcons and Browns.
Old “Bake” prob should have zipped his lips on those takes.
Where’s the upside?
May 17th, 2026 at 2:10 pm
I’m going all prime time games will be loses but the bucs should still make the playoffs at least. And that’s when Baker is going to make or lose money!!
May 17th, 2026 at 3:13 pm
Im concerned about Dallas on 4 days rest on Thursday night football and the Rams. Other than that, I think we could beat anyone else we play. Even could win those games, but they will be very challenging. The Dallas circumstances are U-G-L-Y.
May 17th, 2026 at 6:32 pm
Not going to beat a healthy Burrow week one in Cincinnati. I’ll be happy if we go 2-2 through the first 4 games.
May 17th, 2026 at 7:26 pm
Can’t wait for September!!
May 17th, 2026 at 9:45 pm
Rooting for Bucs, but hard to forget huge chunks of real estate given up each game and hard to believe it wasn’t coaching 7-10 despite offense playing well
May 17th, 2026 at 10:04 pm
If we don’t start 4-0, it will be an up-hill battle from there.
May 17th, 2026 at 10:14 pm
I see it now. Chicago starts the typical Todd Bowles slide where Bucs go on a 4 or 5 game skid. We aren’t beating the Bears Lions Chargers or Ravens and suck on prime time so will likely lose to Carolina in that span too. Happens every year under Toilets watch. Hopefully that’s when Management has seen enough of him and decides it’s time to move on.
May 17th, 2026 at 10:53 pm
I actually have the Bucs getting off to a hot start.
They should get three games at home while it’s still hot, possibly 4, all against teams from up north.
Also Baker normally plays well to start off the season, until he hits his typical mid-season slump (a slump that never ended last year).
Anywho, I have them 4-0 to start, on the way to a 9-8 season. I’ll update it before the season starts, but that’s the current take.
May 17th, 2026 at 11:55 pm
google showed me this: it said the Bucs won 3 of the last 4 opening day games, but then it listed them like this:
Won 23-20 against the Atlanta Falcons.2024:
Won 37-20 against the Washington Commanders.2023
Won 20-17 against the Minnesota Vikings.2022
Won 19-3 against the Dallas Cowboys.
5hat shows 4 wins. I’m to tired to actually look them up right now…worked through the weekend until late.
But regardless of which is right, both are pretty good news.
Personally, I think we will win opening day. Aside from Bowles preparing the team, I think a certain edge rusher and his CB pal will be exited and determine.
I also think the Bucs can win 11-13 games if the mafor injurey bug doesnt strike again.
May 18th, 2026 at 2:32 am
I hope the new revamped D line lays waste to QB’s but I don’t want to see Burrow lose another season. So a nice dose of ugly but not bone breaking ugly.
May 18th, 2026 at 6:02 am
This is a super bowl ready roster and our boys will win the division handily.
May 18th, 2026 at 8:19 am
Week 1: at Cincinnati – W
Week 2: CLEVELAND – W
Week 3: MINNESOTA (afternoon game) – W
Week 4: GREEN BAY – W
Week 5: at Dallas (Thursday night) – L
Week 6: PITTSBURGH (Aaron Rogers) – W
Week 7: at Carolina – L
Week 8: ATLANTA – W
Week 9: at Chicago – W
Week 10: BYE WEEK
Week 11: at Detroit (Cold) – L
Week 12: CAROLINA — (Monday night) – W
Week 13: CHARGERS — W
Week 14: at Baltimore L
Week 15: SAINTS – W
Week 16: at Atlanta – L
Week 17: RAMS – L
Week 18: at New Orleans L
May 18th, 2026 at 8:32 am
Wow so many haters. I know we hate Bowles but to think this group of players cant win the South and get to 10 wins proves your brains don’t work.
May 18th, 2026 at 8:47 am
We’ve improved our front 7 enough that that unit alone should make a huge difference. The offense is bound to be at least a little better if our offensive line returns to health, even without Evans. Special teams will almost certainly be a good bit better, because it’s almost statistically impossible nor to be better than that historic horror show. That leaves us with what I would call a slightly worse secondary. McCollum is talented, but erratic and he’s obviously just not really a football player. Robinson??? His health is going to be key wether he starts or not because we only have 3 corners, really. Scott may wind up outside too. I know you guys are high on Tykee Smith, but I see shades of DW45 in that lazy loafer. Winfield? Another wild card. Scary, scary stuff. We need that front 7 to shield that secondary a little.