Must-Win Sunday … For Todd Bowles
September 18th, 2026
Can the unthinkable happen on Sunday?
Could the Bucs lose their home-opener to a bad Browns football team, one with serious issues and one that trailed 31-0 on Sunday before Jacksonville showed them mercy?
Joe, along with Ira Kaufman, picked the Bucs to win. A loss seems ridiculously unlikely. A close game? Sure, that happens all the time. But a loss to Cleveland would be a major upset and a major embarrassment, a full notch worse than losing to tanking Miami in December.
A loss Sunday would get a conversation started in the Team Glazer suite, Joe believes, a talk about Todd Bowles’ future.
When it comes to Bowles’ job stability, Joe thinks Sunday is a must-win. (That’s “stability,” not security.) No head coach wants to stir up the kind of ire and doubt that would come with a loss.
As much as Team Glazer is all-in on Bowles, a loss to Cleveland could be a lot like Lovie Smith and the 2015 Bucs getting rolled at home on opening day to a bad Titans team.
Joe is confident that Lovie loss kicked off Team Glazer questioning Smith’s future. He was fired after that season.
However, the 2026 scenario would be more jarring because the current Bucs have much higher expectations.
Rondé Barber, the Bucs legend with a WFLA streaming show, noted this week that if the Bucs lose Sunday, he’ll need medical attention. Barber said he would be seen sitting “with some whiskey in my hand saying, ‘I got a problem, man. I got a problem.'”
Barber would not be alone.
Joe is aching for a Bucs win. It would reset the season. A loss would bring total chaos and a wave of checked-out fans.
September 18th, 2026 at 11:24 am
I think this is the rare “must blow out” game. A close win will have the people still angry, especially with the one that got away in Coen waxing the Browns last week.
September 18th, 2026 at 11:25 am
Not sure why beating some terrible team would be a cure all.
September 18th, 2026 at 11:25 am
Like usual we will win Sunday and everyone will forget how bad Todd really is especially when we play good teams and start to lose.
September 18th, 2026 at 11:28 am
Should be a easy win if our INDEPEDENT CONTRACTORS on the Defensive line show up!! Go Bucs
September 18th, 2026 at 11:32 am
No one is saying beating a bad team is a “cure all”, Jmarkbuc..what Joe and others are saying is a loss would be a disaster and start a dumpster fire.
September 18th, 2026 at 11:41 am
The same Bucs’ team that fumbled the ball away FOUR times to lose this past Sunday is perfectly capable of duplicating that act against ANY NFL team. Yes, even the Browns.
The Bengals didn’t beat us. We beat ourselves. And with a repeat of that performance we COULD do it again. I wish people would stop denigrating the Browns. They’re 0-1 like we are, and they gave up 34 pts in their loss. We gave up 33 pts, so we shouldn’t be gloating or thinking that we’re superior to ANY team right now.
September 18th, 2026 at 11:42 am
definitely a must for bowles and baker….
unfortunately, so was the MIA game last year….this has the MIA game written all over it
GO BUCS!!!!!
September 18th, 2026 at 11:42 am
I’m not the least bit confident in a Sunday victory
September 18th, 2026 at 11:45 am
2-8 in their last 10 games
Defense can’t stop any one
Offense can’t play clean and the OVER HYPED up O Line can’t pass block.
6-11 season and Todd is gone.
Last night on Thursday Night Football, I saw a $55 Million a year QB, last Sunday in Cincy I did not see one on the Bucs sideline
September 18th, 2026 at 11:50 am
What Fire the Cannons said above although I can see the Bucs win 7 or 5. Its the same old ‘meh” under this regime.
September 18th, 2026 at 11:53 am
There are several factors that give Cleveland a chance to win this game:
1) Bowles is a terrible HC
2) Bowles is an awful DC
3) The Bucs haven’t played that well at home in years
4) Any decent TE will eat the Bucs poor defensive scheme up
It’ll probably be like the Jets game last year, unless the offense is clicking and without bad turnovers.
September 18th, 2026 at 12:04 pm
Jason Licht has never had a chance to do a legit coaching search. The only time he’s ever had “his guy” is Arians. How’d that work out? Oh yeah, we won a Super Bowl! Just saying.