“We Showed That We Belong”
November 11th, 2026
A small sect of Bucs fans was uplifted by what it saw on the field Sunday night during the crushing loss to 27-24 loss to the Bears.
It seems one of them was Todd Bowles.
“For them guys to get back in the game and not flinch in the enemy territory against a very good football team says a lot,” Bowles told his official team radio show. (Joe listens on SiriusXM)
“And we showed that we belong, but we don’t want to show that we belong, we wanna show that we’re the team. So we gotta clean that part of it up.”
Earlier in the show, Bowles said part of the postgame message to his club was about locking in on finishing. (Yes, this Joe saw the defense have a bust/breakdown late in the game — a play that led to the winning score.)
At what point does it become clear that the “finish” and “killer instinct” chatter isn’t getting through? It’s almost like teams that preach “start fast” but struggle to do that game after game, year after year.
The Bucs showed they belong — in the NFC South, along with the Panthers. Much like the Bucs, Carolina choked away good performances against a strong Denver (7-2) team on Sunday and lost by one score, 26-21. Anyone saying the Panthers belong?
November 11th, 2026 at 9:19 am
Can one person count as a sect?
November 11th, 2026 at 9:20 am
And It equals another 1 score loss….
That is the reality
another 1 score loss……
A boring win is a whole lot better than an exciting loss
November 11th, 2026 at 9:23 am
It shows they belong in the “elite” group of 3-6 teams.
November 11th, 2026 at 9:25 am
participation trophy BS
Bowles always finds a way to lose games. Get rid of this cancer
November 11th, 2026 at 9:29 am
Yes, they belong in the upper echelons of the great all time teams in NFL history.
Better than any Montana led 49er team. Better than any Patriot or Buc team led by Brady.
Todd is absolutely the best HC in the history of the sport bar none.
We will all tell our great grandchildren about the greatness of Todd Bowles.
I’m hoping for an extension during the bye. We need to lock him up long term!
November 11th, 2026 at 9:31 am
Belong? In today’s NFL, every team belongs. They are all flawed by design. There are no 1995 Cowboys out there. That’s why being close or in the mix doesn’t count. Win or not. That’s all.
November 11th, 2026 at 9:33 am
Belong …in the NFC South. Zing!
Close games are better than getting blown out. However, you are who your record says you are.
November 11th, 2026 at 9:34 am
Panthers will be 4-5 after this weekend and the Bucs 3-6 – then the Panthers play the Ravens and the Bucs meet Detroit – the week after is THE game – the Bucs MUST win on Monday Night Football – not just for the win but for the tie-breakers – very possible that Panthers Bucs both end 8-9 – that MNF game will determine whether the Bucs go to the playoffs
November 11th, 2026 at 9:38 am
Yes it reminds me of that chiefs loss in the regular season of 2020. It doesn’t have to be linear progression just get right when it matters the most. Go Bucs!!!
November 11th, 2026 at 9:48 am
The Panthers got screwed by the refs.
Apparently you can throw a challenge flag AFTER the following play is snapped.
That not only wiped out a pass interference call the next play in the Broncos’ end zone that wasn’t called, but gave Broncos the ball.
November 11th, 2026 at 9:48 am
We belong in the trash like the rest of the division! A loss is still a loss whether we get steamrolled or choke the game away!!!
November 11th, 2026 at 9:51 am
FYI the Panthers have only 5 more “winnable” games – @ NO TB and home BAL NO ATL – the others are @ MIN PIT and home CIN SEA – that puts them at 8-9 – to go three straight NO BAL TB is crucial for the Panthers – the Bucs will in all likelihood win the NFC South Stagg Bowl with a win against CAR on MNF
November 11th, 2026 at 9:57 am
Omg dude barf. There are no participation trophies in the nfl. You are making millions win the game. That’s our bar now? We belong. How many bad seasons does Todd Bowles have to have before the NFL realizes he’s not a good head coach.
November 11th, 2026 at 10:00 am
Bowles has to be gone after this season or I just might abandon ship after being on board since 1976, its maddening…I can’t take much more of this…
November 11th, 2026 at 10:04 am
AFC South has 12 wins
NFC East has 13 wins
NFC South has 12 wins
November 11th, 2026 at 10:05 am
You belong at the bottom of the NFC power rankings, rightfully so. Sounds like Todd is happy belonging with his 3-6 record. Team is ranked lower then whale sh#t, right where it belongs.
November 11th, 2026 at 10:06 am
In the Panthers game — wasn’t there pass interference before the ball arrived — before the odd bounces that turned into an interception?
The talking heads spent so much time replaying the bouncing ball but none on the play leading up to that point. I get it — interference can’t be a challenge ground. But it sure did look like another blown call.
November 11th, 2026 at 10:08 am
You would think a coach would be P!ssed off after another close game to go 3-6. But Not just happy to be here Bowles. Nope, this ‘proves they belong’. He is satisfied with losing close games and we wonder why the rest of the team wont play for him.
November 11th, 2026 at 11:04 am
Playing close to .500 football and for the NFC south title is the holy grail for Todd Bowles.
I’ve posted this before but when Evans was deciding what he was going to do, mayfield was asked his opinion about the situation and the response was something to the effect of: “Mike will be back. He doesn’t want to go out like last season. He wants to come back and finish the job by winning another nfc south championship.”
The answer was a peak into the mindset of the team. Evans was thinking February/lombardi, while the “leaders” of our team had 8-9 or 9-8 on the brain.
If the owners are defining mediocrity as success, that’s going to trickle down to your team. And it looks like it sure has.
November 11th, 2026 at 11:20 am
No…Evans was trying to figure out how to play a full season..
And he’s still trying.. lol
November 11th, 2026 at 12:04 pm
Joe … ‘At what point does it become clear that the “finish” and “killer instinct” chatter isn’t getting through? The Bucs showed they belong — in the NFC South, along with the Panthers.’
Todd Bowles is trying his dangdest to keep his players’ confidence up, and you Joe seem to be intent on demeaning him for that. Isn’t that what a Head Coach SHOULD DO? This Bucs’ team fought tooth-and-nail to win that Chicago game, but obviously came up 1 play short. And that’s all it was … ONE PLAY. (Bucs & Bears were tied 24-24 with 2:51 to go). With less than a minute to go (49 secs), we had them at the Chicago 46 with a 2nd down & 9 yds to go. THEN THE ONE PLAY … that 38-yard completion to Loveland that set the Bears up for the winning FG.
It was ugly, but we fought back from a 14-0 deficit in the 1st qtr to tie it 24-24 with less than 3 minutes to go. Our offense never touched the ball again after they tied the ballgame at the 2:51 point. So are you saying Joe that our DEFENSE lacks the ‘killer instinct’ because they allowed that ONE PLAY? Doesn’t that kinda negate their 5 takeaways? And their holding the league’s #8 Rushing Offense to only 72 yards rushing in 22 attempts?
November 11th, 2026 at 12:58 pm
Steve V, you don’t think Evans helps out this sorry receiving corps?
November 11th, 2026 at 1:31 pm
You showed you belong in the drafting in the top 10 In next year’s draft #!!
November 11th, 2026 at 2:33 pm
Oh lord. As soon as I saw the headline, I was thinking “cut that player” that’s the wrong attitude, and it turns out to be the head coach again. Everyone belongs, theyre all picked from the same draft bozo
November 11th, 2026 at 3:10 pm
Being competitive with a good team, assuming that the Bears are one, is a good thing, especially in contrast with the opposite. Being able to beat good teams is, of course, preferable. So much I read is so under the bottom negative about the Bucs that a little moderation seems in order. You have to respect the opponent, otherwise beating him means nothing. Almost universally, the Bears are considered a better team than the Bucs. If we had beaten them, would that have proved we are a better team? First, we should become a better team. Meanwhile, we should concentrate on beating the the teams worse than the Bears, which includes twenty-five or so teams in the NFL.
November 11th, 2026 at 5:16 pm
On Wednesdays after games, Pro-Football-Reference publishes their ‘Advanced Statistics’ on the Sunday games. It’s always interesting to rummage thru those ‘Advanced’ stats to see if anything ‘jumps out’ about our previous game. And usually, quite a bit does.
Sunday’s game against the Bears was no exception, ant just for Bucs’ players but also for Bears’ players. Just a handful of examples:
o Bucs’ blitzed Williams 36 times that game, but only using 5 players (Anzalone 14 blitzes, Trotter 11 blitzes, Tykee Smith 6 blitzes, Scott 3 blitzes, Winfield 2 blitzes). And yet with all that blitzing, we only sacked Williams ONE time (not by the blitzers), got 3 QB hits (only ONE by a blitzer), and had 4 TFLs (only ONE by a blitzer). Blitzing must’ve made Caleb ‘nervous’ though, because he only completed 59% of his passes & oh ya, threw 4 INTs.
o Starting to see why Rueben Bains continues to get the lion’s share of OLB snaps. In the Chicago game, Bain got 35 snaps (57%), Nelson got 31 snaps (51%), Muhammad & Walker both got 28 snaps (46% each). When you look at PRODUCTIVITY, none of them really excelled, but Rueben ‘held his own’; just a matter of time before he starts racking up the stats (Bain did have 2 tackles & 2 QB hits in that game though, plus the 1 forced fumble).
o ‘Advanced Receiving Stats’ show Bucky with 4-of-5 receptions (28 yds), Gainwell with 3-of-3 receptions (60 yds). Interestingly, Bucky had 33 YAC, and Kenny had 42 YAC. Otton was the only TE to be targeted … a bunch (4 catches in 8 targets for only 25 yds). That’s terrible, and 1 INT came from throwing to him. Baker was 7-of-16 throwing to his WRs. They’re obviously not all on the same page.
o The 1 stat that jumps out at me the most though in that game is that the Bucs’ offense went only 2-for-12 on 3rd down conversions. That’s by far the worst we’ve done this season on 3rd downs (we were only averaging about 38.4% prior to the Bears game, but 16.7% is ridiculous). To the Bears’ credit, they are the #1 team in the NFL for lowest 3rd Down conversion percentage allowed (22.8%), but still.
Of those 12 attempts at 3rd down conversions, Bucs ran twice (didn’t make either of them) and passed 10 times. Baker completed 6-of-the-10 passes, but only 2 were long enough to get the 1st down. Bucs have been doing that all season; drives me nuts.
November 11th, 2026 at 7:01 pm
Sizzors…I have a really good friend in Bmore hes die hard Ravens
Hes looking forward to Jacobi !!
Anyhow,The Bucs using the bye to clean things up
They really play their azzes off
Self-infliction stops,this team has a high celing
Go Bucs!!!
November 11th, 2026 at 7:03 pm
My bad !!! we call him sizzors
November 11th, 2026 at 7:13 pm
I look at it this way..1 play 1 blown coverage 1 field goal away!!
From being the hottest team in football, With Buffalo!!
Jusdo!!
November 11th, 2026 at 7:16 pm
The run the table,after bye
Im banking on the D and rushing..
Mayfield calms down
November 11th, 2026 at 8:14 pm
They showed they belong where?