Todd Bowles And The Playoffs
August 31st, 2026
Needs a playoff win?
Joe is neither a statgeek nor is a statophobe. Stats can be quite useful and enlightening. They can also be quite deceiving.
Joe tries to put stats in perspective.
Stathead Sam Hoppen, a data scientist for the gambling wing of BSPN, had an interesting element to his breakdown on the 2026 Bucs: Hoppen thinks KitKat-eating Bucs coach Todd Bowles needs a playoff win to continue his reign as head coach into 2027.
Successful season: win a playoff game
I’m not saying that I think this is likely, but it has to be the bar for Tampa Bay at this point. They’ve won the division in three of the four years under Bowles (and lost it on a tiebreaker last year). Yet, they only have one playoff win to show for it. Tampa Bay mindbogglingly kept Bowles around for another year, so more than just winning the division has to be the bar for success.
Sooner or later, doesn’t Bowles have to start racking up playoff wins?
For example, Joe doesn’t think anyone would suggest Father Dungy was a rotten coach. He rebuilt the Bucs from a total joke into a Super Bowl contender and consistent playoff team. Still, after the Bucs lost to the Rams in the 1999 NFC title game, Father Dungy never won another playoff game for the Bucs. Two years in a row the Bucs got bounced in the first round by the Eagles.
Team Glazer had seen enough. And in came Chucky. We all know what happened next.
Bowles isn’t far from that Dungy territory. Bowles and the Bucs won a playoff game in 2023. They haven’t won one since, despite two division titles. Bowles is 1-3 in the postseason and the list of NFL coaches that went 1-4 in the postseason would sour any fan’s dreams.
Joe thinks Bowles must win the NFC South this fall for job security. Bowles may need a playoff win, too.
August 31st, 2026 at 8:26 am
Wildcard is not playoffs
Getting into the NFC Championship Game is the only acceptable answer
August 31st, 2026 at 8:29 am
Sooner or later this team needs to stop having long losing streaks! This just doesn’t happen to good organizations.
August 31st, 2026 at 8:35 am
Every team wants to win playoff games
It’s easier said than done, there’s more than coaching involved
After 17 hard fought games during the season
The healthiest teams usually wins during the postseason
August 31st, 2026 at 8:39 am
“Tampa Bay mindbogglingly kept Bowles around for another year”
I’ve said this very thing probably 100 times on this blog. Perhaps now the Pom Pom squad can wake up from their cake eating contest and see Bowles for what he really is.
A loser and complete failure as a HC. A DC that can’t coach defense anymore.
But I’m sure they’ll continue throwing KitKats at their dear leaders feet.
August 31st, 2026 at 8:39 am
8-9 or 9-8 because Bowles is completely incapable of not being .500. The only question is whether that’s good enough to win the NFC Dumpster Fire Division again.
After that, it’ll be another early exit from the playoffs. If the Bucs have proven anything over the last several years, it’s that winning the division is akin to being the last turd in the toilet to get flushed. That one floater keeps coming back until it, too, gets flushed.
August 31st, 2026 at 8:43 am
The Bucs can still win this GARBAGE NFC South with only 7 wins…
That’s how horrid this Division is.
7 wins can still win the NFC South.
August 31st, 2026 at 8:43 am
BSPN ranks Todd Bowles 28/32 as an NFL head coach for reasons.
August 31st, 2026 at 8:46 am
and…. We need another season to see how incapable Todd Bowels is to coach his team above the minimum level of performance
Todd bless his heart
Is all textbook coaching and zero adjust , motivate, adjust, perform under fire in a nutshell
He NEVER should have been handed this team for another year.
August 31st, 2026 at 8:48 am
As of now, the team is healthy. The OC & defense have improved now we’ll see if Todd can put it together for a full season. Here’s to hoping everyone stays relatively healthy so we can see what this team is capable of under Bowles.
August 31st, 2026 at 8:48 am
Sooner, or later doesn’t Licht get some blame? If Bowles gets fired Licht should too. Need a new set of eyes on this roster. Licht thinks he’s a draft master, and has the best scouts in the NFL. The proof is in the pudding. Better make a playoff run, no excuses, or outinzee.
August 31st, 2026 at 8:54 am
Jason Licht has been the Bucs GM for 12 seasons
And we still have an inferior NFL roster
Rich McKay was the GM for 10 seasons
And we had one of most talented roster in the NFL
Rich McKay was an amazing talent evaluator,
August 31st, 2026 at 8:59 am
Bowles & the playoffs in the same category? If we do make it I doubt we get passed the first game.
August 31st, 2026 at 9:01 am
Hodad
Jason and Todd have a mutual agreement to ignore the performance of each other while they both blow smoke up the gBoyz collective butts , protecting their paychecks for another year.
Fans are left holding the empty bag
August 31st, 2026 at 9:09 am
WHY in the heck are you implying any sort of results when you don’t know who will be on the injury list after four weeks……..this team is THIN in many places, a couple of injuries and you’re struggling.
August 31st, 2026 at 9:17 am
Rich McKay would be at the front of the line for a Buccaneer GM to be enshrined into the ROH-Heck McKays’ 1st two draft picks were HOF’ers-No other GM can say that.
August 31st, 2026 at 9:18 am
Playoffs? PLAYOFFS!?- Jim Mora. Playoffs hard to do with a .500 coach.
August 31st, 2026 at 9:26 am
The guy should not have been handed the HC job in 2022, and sure as heck shouldn’t still be here in 2026. There is a major stench coming from the Glazers estate; why have they kept him around?
August 31st, 2026 at 9:42 am
@Hodad,
Amen brother. Complete housecleaning. If it goes bad it will be the outinzee tour. Loved that description.
August 31st, 2026 at 9:43 am
I haven’t had a good moderation in a while. Thanks Joe.
August 31st, 2026 at 9:54 am
Cosmo Kramer acting like he has been here.
You know he hasn’t with that comment.
Literally everyone said the same thing, including the Joes.
Pom Pom squad? Not true.
August 31st, 2026 at 9:54 am
The Buccaneers were a wildcard when they last won the Superbowl. Bowles defense completely shut down Maholmes. Won all their playoff games on the road.
August 31st, 2026 at 9:55 am
Dungy was a much better head coach than BowlesThose Eagle team’s head e lost to were far superior the the Cowboys and Commanders that Bowles lost to.
August 31st, 2026 at 10:00 am
Buddha
I had the winning lottery numbers but was just a week off
August 31st, 2026 at 10:13 am
Once the Bucs make the playoffs, I have the utmost confidence that Bowles will find a way to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory. He did that against the Commanders!
August 31st, 2026 at 10:14 am
In case any of you as a noticed, Todd is the coach for this year, need to focus on something new