A Win For Todd Bowles
January 26th, 2026
The streak is broken!
It’s been seven years since a defense-first head coach has been in the Super Bowl — Bill Belicheat in 2019. And now there will be two in the Super Bowl next month.
Joe wrote about this possibility previously, but it’s worth mentioning since Tampa Bay’s head man is a defense-first guy. Mike Macdonald (Seahawks) and Mike Vrabel (Patriots) will square off in the big game. That’s sort of a win for Todd Bowles.
The NFL is a trend kind of league and one trend has seen owners chasing and clinging to offense-first head coaches. That’s about to change a little bit.
Those in the anti-Bowles camp might even say it’s now more likely that the Bucs move on from Bowles next year with Sean McDermott or Mike Tomlin, both defense-first head coaches.
Regardless, the Bucs defense needs to make a significant improvement in 2026. It can’t get much worse. Having a defense-first head coach with a consistently poor defense is a tough situation for fans to comprehend.
January 26th, 2026 at 10:04 am
How is it a win for him if his defense is terrible? #FraudulentHire, 3 time barely winner of the worst division in football!
January 26th, 2026 at 10:06 am
It may help to clarify Joe …
It’s not Defensive Head Coaches that are winning.
It’s GOOD Defensive Head Coaches that are winning.
We can all agree Todd doesn’t qualified.
January 26th, 2026 at 10:10 am
Both teams have excellent OCs, that helps. Todd’s defense has fallen, and it can’t get up.
January 26th, 2026 at 10:11 am
Exactly right ! Lmfao Todd’s defense is garbage ! Todd can’t hold their jockstrap he stinks period !
January 26th, 2026 at 10:13 am
We beat the Seahawks.
We should have beat the Patriots.
We are better than both of the teams in the Super Bowl.
We had a devastated offensive line this year.
That’s why we didn’t win the NFC South.
Grab 2 starting quality OGs. Grab a real backup RT.
And never have poor offensive line depth ever again.
January 26th, 2026 at 10:16 am
Exactly, qualifying “Good” defensive HCs is necessary.
Bowels even said he took extra time looking at his defense pre training camp and made the necessary changes that need to be made every 3 years.
He actually made it worse.
Watching those defenses made me jealous.
At least bring in a defensive coordinator and TRY to save your job TODD.
January 26th, 2026 at 10:17 am
Please stop pushing retreads that have already won a Super Bowl. No coach has ever won a Super Bowl with multiple teams. Not Parcells, not BB, not Lombardi, Gibbs, Chucky… not one. It all but guarantees a flame-out. Maybe McDermott, but he hasn’t won yet.
January 26th, 2026 at 10:17 am
What is really happening is the Glazers are bleeding money on their other Football team Manchester united because v they are not participating in the Champions league this season. Huge loss in revenue. Not only that they are paying for a new 80 thousand seat stadium in .Manchester to replace old Trafford. Everyone we else in Europe is getting new stadium s. So they do not want to pay for Bowles to tazke early retirement. Furthermore, Baker is guaranteed for 2026. So they are slapping a bandaid on with Zac that Baker knew from the Rams and will draft or pickup in free agency a QB too spell Baker when he gets hurt.
January 26th, 2026 at 10:18 am
.and I meant to say “maybe McDermott to replace Bowles– because he has very prominently choked without winning a SB- but NOT Tomlin who has already won one”.
January 26th, 2026 at 10:20 am
Just wow Joe…you can’t be serious! (said in the high pitched winey voice of John McEnroe) Really – a win for Todd? 3rd and 28 ring a bell?
January 26th, 2026 at 10:22 am
A retirement check is what Bowles should get to help the Bucs.
January 26th, 2026 at 10:24 am
Ronde Barber said it best earlier this year when he stated this is an average team talent wise. If this is the case then the Bucs are really still in rebuild mode. Biggest problem being lack of depth at most positions. Now don’t get me wrong, it is very disappointing we aren’t better on defense with a defensive head coach. Also if I were one of the owners I’d like to know what is up with the mid-season losing streaks. I’ll be patient and see what the GM does this off season, but most fans are tired of being average.
January 26th, 2026 at 10:24 am
More like Josh Allen choking than McDermott
January 26th, 2026 at 10:24 am
How? His defense is a complete FAIL. How he still has a job is beyond me. The difference between Macdonald, Vrabel, Tomlin, Ryans, McDerrmott and the other playoff coaches is that they are good at what they do and they have good players.
January 26th, 2026 at 10:28 am
This is total garbage. It’s hard to believe anything you read here.
January 26th, 2026 at 10:30 am
What is Bowels even doing in a conversation of effective defensive coaches? Got to say, this Joe has to gin up a totally dumb conversation that somehow includes Toad Bowles. He has no right to even be in such a conversation. That clown (and the Glaziers) has turned me from a 48 year fan into a troll. That what I will be on this site until this overpaid and incompetent jerk is put on the street. He will never get another NFL job unless he gets another by there clueless owners.
Where is Hugh Culverhouse when we really need him??!!
January 26th, 2026 at 10:31 am
usually an NFl team gets some help from its Defense. But no Buc fan can say our Defense was even average this past season. It was horrible. Bowles would be better off if he hired a DC. But he won’t. I see us improving to 9-8 next year. Right there in the middle, where its nice and cozy. Don’t be surprised to see Carolina take a gigantic leap over us.
January 26th, 2026 at 10:32 am
It doesn’t matter what side of the ball a coach coached on, that’s been a latched onto label for far too long. The greatest coach’s in NFL history were defensive players and then defensive coach’s in some form or fashion even if they weren’t players. Shula, Landry ,Noll, George Allen. Lombardi was a guard, go figure the sweeps, right? They understand, or should, both sides of the ball. They are also more reliant on their assistant coach’s now more than ever before.
January 26th, 2026 at 10:34 am
Watching that Rams-Seahawks game showed how far away the Bucs defense is from being even remotely capable of playing like that.
January 26th, 2026 at 10:35 am
Teacherman, I agree with your post but the Bucs also need insurance if Baker gets hurt again. Not having a backup QB also cost the Bucs down the stretch. Granted the OL injuries led to Baker getting banged up but he also takes risks in the game, some unnecessary.
January 26th, 2026 at 10:37 am
So that’s 2 victories since the bye week?
January 26th, 2026 at 10:42 am
Yes they have a DC and an OC that makes the calls and a head coach, Not a head coach that is also the DC!! FIRE BOWLES
January 26th, 2026 at 10:46 am
Teacherman … ‘We are better than both of the teams in the Super Bowl.’
Yes we beat the Seahawks 38-35 at the beginning of the year, but the Seahawks did end up with the #1 defense in the NFL, allowing only 292 pts on the year (17.2 PPG). The only other team to score more than 24 pts on them last season was the Rams (37 pts) … and the Rams lost that game 38-37.
Still, the Seahawks ended up with the #3 offense and the #1 defense. The Patriots ended up with the #2 offense and the #4 defense. The Bucs meanwhile ended up with the #18 offense and the #20 defense (and if we hadn’t started off the season so hot we would’ve been much closer to the bottom of the league). Saying that we’re ‘better than both teams in the Super Bowl’ MIGHT be a stretch.
January 26th, 2026 at 10:46 am
Oh no. Not the Super Bowl run hype. Here we go again. Every year No Bucs are not going to Super Bowl for years////decades////ever/ The Curse of Bowzo will stop it.
January 26th, 2026 at 10:48 am
If it weren’t for Bowles terrible decision making, Byron Leftwich would be a 2 time Super Bowl winning Offensive Coordinator.
January 26th, 2026 at 10:49 am
Yeah but they both had great defenses……
January 26th, 2026 at 10:52 am
Defense won us Super Bowl LV. Guess who our coordinator was? It’s the players and their talent level and will that controls most of how the team does. And the Bucs need a couple more heavily defensive drafts with an offensive player here or there to be much more competitive. We have the core of a really strong team, but certain positions- especially linebacker, edge, and DT need beefed up- and in the LB case *SPED UP*.
January 26th, 2026 at 11:03 am
You have a GM that could not draft a decent Edge if his life depended on it. The draft will not solve the problems.
January 26th, 2026 at 11:04 am
How long ago was that superbowl and what has that defensive done since? He was a DC of a defense that has gotten progressively worse since the superbowl. What we are seeing is a good coach go to the Superbowl that isn’t Todd so why is that exactly a win for him that’s an L for Todd cuz his defense is trash.
January 26th, 2026 at 11:06 am
You also have a HC that has said repeatedly he doesn’t really care about his edge getting sacks or pressure not high on his list. What would be the point in getting a good edge if Todd doesn’t value them very much.
January 26th, 2026 at 11:07 am
Is he really a defensive coach? I haven’t seen it. It looks like we don’t even have a defensive coordinator. It’s a Bucs life.
January 26th, 2026 at 11:09 am
Both SB teams have a better coaches! Look what McDonald has done with Darnold,you either have it or you dont .Bowles is the latter They’ll never win with him
January 26th, 2026 at 11:14 am
Not sure if you can call defensive first coach when you rank near bottom of league in defense. LOL. Bowles is a 🤡
January 26th, 2026 at 11:19 am
Wow, there will be 2 defensive minded coaches in the Super Bowl .. what are the odds of that happening?
January 26th, 2026 at 11:26 am
“ Having a defense-first head coach with a consistently poor defense is a tough situation for fans to comprehend”
The thing that is tough to comprehend is how Licht and the Glazers seem to deny the reality that he is such a very poor DC and. Huge liability to the team.
January 26th, 2026 at 11:34 am
“Mike Macdonald (Seahawks) and Mike Vrabel (Patriots) will square off in the big game. That’s sort of a win for Todd Bowles.” – Joe
Man I’m getting bored with all this winning from Todd Bowles.
We need to go easy on the rest of the NFL. They just can’t keep up with Todd!!!!
Guess I’ll go ahead and purchase those SB ticket for February 2027 now!
At this point they should just forfeit the Lombardi trophy to us and save time!!!
What a joke.
January 26th, 2026 at 11:38 am
The only thing he has in common with them is title, and by default. He isn’t nearly as talented a coach or leader. Like saying people named Mike are potential Super Bowl coaches. Asinine association.
January 26th, 2026 at 11:50 am
They both have DCs.
Did you guys watch the Pats Broncos game?
Can you imagine Todd running those plays with a minute left before halftime and leaning out past the sidelines as his QB slides, ready to call timeout with 1 second left to try for a FG!?
Haha it appears most of us can’t and seems like the bare minimum a HC could do to try and win football games.
January 26th, 2026 at 12:06 pm
3rd & 28
January 26th, 2026 at 12:17 pm
Hasn’t happened in a long time.
It means absolutely nothing as it pertains to Todd Bowles.
January 26th, 2026 at 12:24 pm
Misleading. The Seahawks win says nothing about Bowles.
January 26th, 2026 at 12:31 pm
I still think we need to hire a DC. I know we won’t but I just cannot for the life of me understand how Bowles thinks he can do it better than someone else at this point…
January 26th, 2026 at 12:54 pm
Both playoff games were somewhat boring to watch this weekend. Three and out and you are punting the ball. When the Bucs were winning before the bye week, people were tuning in Baker Mayfield and the Bucs to watch amazing last second wins.
The NFL is all about making money. Watching defensive play is more exciting for the hometown fans but it doesn’t provide any of the on the edge of the seat moments you get from the offense.
If the NFL revenue declines watch how fast they will respond. Let’s hope the Bucs will provide those edge of the seat moments in 2026. GO BUCS
January 26th, 2026 at 12:59 pm
Fire Todd Bowles …. I know it ain’t happening but I can say it all I want ! Great job Glazers ! Bowles gets the job without a real coaching search and we get sorry .500 ball and it feels worse that that with his annual mid season slumps !
January 26th, 2026 at 1:12 pm
I am no Bowles fan and think he should have been let go…
That said, he is here so will root for our Bucs.
But, in fairness to Todd, while his scheme is garbage, he didnt have more than 4-5 decent to good players on the defense at any given time.
I am sure the defense would have looked better with a healthy Kancey, a better Ilb and a 2023 version of Reddick.
Now it is up to Licht to fix the missing pieces or they should both be shot out of the cannon at 1 Buc place after the season.
January 26th, 2026 at 1:13 pm
Funny+-Titans run off Vrabel so they could improve, dude goes to the Show on his first season with his new team
January 26th, 2026 at 1:31 pm
I watched yesterday marveling at the high-level coaching, especially in the seahawks/rams game. I also couldn’t stop thinking about how Bowles will never be on either of their levels & won’t ever sniff a game with those stakes.
January 26th, 2026 at 1:39 pm
It is a silly distinction. Even the Chiefs won their Super Bowls with topnotch defenses the last few times. When the offensive wizard leading the Rams won the Super Bowl, they only scored 23 points.
January 26th, 2026 at 1:43 pm
Absolutely JOE. It’s hard to fathom. I’m not of these anti Bowles clowns who can’t get over the fact he’s still a head coach. Shoot IRA said it perfectly. His defense can work and even show the stat of what it did to KC in the Super Bowl on the biggest stage. Prob is his defense only works with the right players in the trenches and coming off the edge. Get him those players like JPP was and Shaq and suh his defense will work and nobody was complaining then when he has vea Shaq n JPP dropping into coverage and it worked beautifully. I’ve seen other coaches do it too even the ones in the SB this year but these so called fans are so enraged they can’t see or think straight. Ice cream soft. Pretty alarming the act this way about a meaningless sport for entertainment most likely they act the same way in life
January 26th, 2026 at 2:07 pm
Uh, yeah there’s just one difference Joe:
Those defensive head coaches have good defenses.
When was the last time Bowles had a good defense? 2021?
January 26th, 2026 at 2:35 pm
told yall about Klint Kubiak!!!!
GO BUCS!!!!
January 26th, 2026 at 2:40 pm
the difference is TEACHING!!!!!!!
whatever Vrable and Mcdonald are TEACHING defensively, their players are able to comprehend, understand, communicate and execute their responsibilities….
defensively, no one looks lost or out of place on the patriots or seahawks…they all know what is happening, what they need to do and where they need to be…and they play violent!!!!
GO BUCS!!!!
January 26th, 2026 at 2:45 pm
#1bucsfannSays:
“Shoot IRA said it perfectly. His defense can work and even show the stat of what it did to KC in the Super Bowl on the biggest stage. Prob is his defense only works with the right players in the trenches and coming off the edge.”
Everyone conveniently forgets that the Chiefs were down multiple starting O Lineman that game.
This is the only time a Bowles led defense looks good. When the opponent is severely handicapped by injured players. See the lone playoff victory vs the Eagles as an example.
And BA was the HC and made sure the offense put up the points necessary to force KC into passing situations.
Bowles sucks and the only people that think different are the Joes, Ira, and the Glazer kids.
3rd and 28
January 26th, 2026 at 3:26 pm
THAT IS HILARIOUS
GREAT HEADLINE
Almost got me JOE !!!!
You put Bowles in the same sentence with TWO WINNING COACHES!
I almost thought you were serious
GOT ME JOE GOOD ONE!😂
January 26th, 2026 at 3:44 pm
A Drake Maye quote about Vrabel from earlier this year…
“That’s what we’re trying to build, and it starts with the head coach intensity, bringing it every day, taking no crap when we’re out there on the field,” Maye, 23, later told reporters. “The mentality, I like it. That’s what you want.”
“IT STARTS WITH THE HC INTENSITY”
Mike MacDonald and Andy Reid maybe aren’t super intense but they are active. Sirianni, McVay, Arians, Belichick, Gruden, Vrabel … these are SB winning HCs or potentially SB winning HCs, among them are Tampas 2 Super Bowls and most of the Super Bowls from the last 20 years. Throw Carroll and Coughlin in there if you want. Intense guys.
Bowles… smh. How inspiring !
January 26th, 2026 at 3:56 pm
I imagine a mannequin yelling at the players and the intensity I saw on game day makes sense.
January 26th, 2026 at 4:02 pm
I can’t believe the situation we’re in right now. If the team whisperer doesn’t come in and make a miracle happen in the next few months, it’s gonna be a pirates life. Then next season all new coaching staff?? There might be a new GM as well. Seven pics and a few free agents ain’t enough to knock scar out of the minds of those from the biggest turd dropping ever that took place this season. We’ll be there to cheer you on in hopes. It’s on Jason for real now. Let’s Go Baby rub that crystal ball really hard brother.
January 26th, 2026 at 4:41 pm
Perhaps the real moral victory is that the Bucs gave the Super Bowl participants a good game…particularly winning at Seattle. What the hell happened after that game?!
I’m ok with Bowles getting one more chance given the coaches available this hiring cycle. Harbaugh wanted ( and got ) 20 million per season and has been “pretty good” the last decade…mostly underachieving though. No one else moved the needle in my opinion.
I have to believe The Boiler Boys ( Bowles & Licht ) fate is tied together. Win 10 games or hit the bricks.
January 26th, 2026 at 5:16 pm
The Bucs should have hired McDermott the moment he was let go. Now we wont have a chance .
January 26th, 2026 at 8:27 pm
Want to put it in perspective? Bowels sold the nfc divisional round in 2022 with that
Awful all out blitz call. The rams went on to win the super bowl. It really should of been
Us. Then the glazers give him the head coaching job!!! I was dumbfounded. Since then
The defense has severely under performed. With the secondary among the leagues worst.
Licht missed on jts – logan hall – chris braswell. Infact the only defensive players hes
Drafted in the last 4 years thats done anything is kancey and tykee Smith. And kancey
Spends 70% of his time on the sidelines.
Simply can t have that many misses on high draft selections and its
Starting to show on the depth of this team. Couple all of that with a HC
That calls the same defensive scheme that gets chopped up by bad
Teams with back up quarterbacks. Its hard to watch.
January 26th, 2026 at 8:35 pm
if the bucs had the same schedule as the patriots they would likely be in the super bowl too.
instead we played 3 of the final 4 teams, plus the niners, bills, texans and the eagles. we were 4 and 5 vs. playoff teams.
we were closer than everyone thinks, just a massive error on hassan that triggered less money for special teams that did us in
January 26th, 2026 at 9:23 pm
Aqu if you really think the offense won that SB then you’re the one using. Defense wins champ. 02, 20 Bucs defense. Check the stats before you step bro. Look at the defenses in this SB. I wanted Bowles gone to be guess what he’s here so I will support and since he’s here Bucs need to get him the players he needs for it to be better. That’s what a real fan does not just bellyache cause I didn’t get wha I wanted
January 26th, 2026 at 10:46 pm
Quit drinking and typing, Joe. Dumbest take I’ve read from “you.”
January 27th, 2026 at 3:55 am
Cooper Kupp. Bowels Sux
January 27th, 2026 at 6:29 am
I see a 4-13:season coming for this team. Life is short. Another wasted year .
January 27th, 2026 at 6:52 am
3rd and 28. “We as coaches have done all we can”. This team is gonna get what they deserve by not firing the fraud.
January 27th, 2026 at 7:48 am
Joe is really struggling for content. Sad…….
January 27th, 2026 at 8:07 am
“” I wanted Bowles gone to be guess what he’s here so I will support and since he’s here Bucs need to get him the players he needs for it to be better.””
Nope. Not only did the fraud oversee one of the biggest collapses in Buc history but he commanded defenses that were bottom of the league 3 yrs running. He is incapable of scheming anything that isn’t in his repertoire. Bad coaches keep their scheme regardless of the players he has. Good coaches adjust their schemes to better fit the type of players he has. This moron has no conception of that. Throw in that this team has absolutely no fire. No enthusiasm. No will to win.
The 3rd and 28 embarrassment. The quote ” We as coaches have done all that we can”. Players on and off the record questioning his decisions. This guy is a complete and utter failure. No way he ever gets the benefit of the doubt from me again. We deserve better than the Glazers/ Bowles and Licht.
January 27th, 2026 at 11:20 am
We need a playcalling HC so we don’t lose an OC every year.