The Brutal NFC South
April 6th, 2026
Need more than NFC South titles.
When the Bucs boast they have been the beasts of the NFC South in this decade (but have done little else since the Super Bowl win), Joe can hear Bucs fans groan from Bartow to Venice.
NFL owners love winning divisions for obvious reasons. It’s an extra home game and all the rivers of revenue that come with it. NFL people, from coaches to suits, like to say winning a division is hard.
Joe doesn’t dispute that. But fans, rightly so, don’t care after maybe one division title.
For fans, a division title is not something to brag about. If a team can’t do anything but win a division, that’s not a humble brag for fans, it’s an embarrassment.
A division title is nothing more than a stepping stone for fans. If a team can’t do more, then fans believe there is something wrong.
At SI.com, Nicholas Selbe ranked each NFL division. He has the NFC South as the worst.
Joe agrees and also believes Selbe described the Bucs’ plight of many division titles but zero NFC championship appearances since 2020 to be spot-on.
The Buccaneers are talented, but they usually play down to the competition level of the teams in the weakest division in football, which might explain why the NFC South seems to constantly come down to the final weeks of the regular season.
The Bucs often play down to opponents. How often in the last four years have the Bucs blown out an opponent? Not nearly as much as they should have.
Too often, the Bucs play close games (6-6 in one-score games last year). And when you play close games, guess what? You keep the opponent in the game. And when you keep an opponent in the game, you are setting yourself up to lose.
Playing close games isn’t a quality brag. If anything, team leaders often should hang their heads in shame for allowing a lesser opponents in a game, or worse.
April 6th, 2026 at 7:47 am
“For fans, a division title is not something to brag about. If a team can’t do anything but win a division, that’s not a humble brag for fans, it’s an embarrassment.”
This is funny, because winning the division gets you a top 4 playoff seeding and a postseason home game. So talking as if it is meaningless says more about the folks downing it than it says anything about the guys on the field playing for it.
I do agree on the close games, you’ve got to be able to score and stop the other team from scoring. Trying to win games with long spells of nothing on offense, paired with equally inconsistent defense. You end up with 70% of your schedule being games decided by 7 or few points. Can’t win long term like that, and you damn sure can’t make THAT your identity as a team.
April 6th, 2026 at 7:47 am
Spot on post Joe. And yet – the Bucs keep. “coaches have done all we can do” Coach Bowles. SMH..still.
April 6th, 2026 at 8:10 am
Amen, Joe. Winning the NFC south (only) is NO reason for any coach to keep his job. It’s a garbage conference that should be an easy path to the playoffs and masks those coaches swimming naked.
April 6th, 2026 at 8:12 am
NFC East and AFC North–both won fewer games last year
April 6th, 2026 at 8:17 am
Have done little else in the last decade?
Super Bowl counts for nothing? Spoiled rotten
April 6th, 2026 at 8:50 am
Yawn
April 6th, 2026 at 8:57 am
In any other division the Bucs aint cutting it, but still they kept this [Easy man. That’s a bit over the top. — Joe] coach.
April 6th, 2026 at 8:57 am
Pretty sure Joe mentioned that in the second paragraph.
April 6th, 2026 at 8:58 am
Pretty sure Joe mentioned that too.
The Super Bowl was, now, a different time and a different coaching staff and mostly different players.
April 6th, 2026 at 9:01 am
hopefully, this team develops some sense of urgency!!!!
GO BUCS!!!!!
April 6th, 2026 at 9:17 am
Lovie 2.0 scared to loose mentality. It’s a Bucs life.
April 6th, 2026 at 9:19 am
King of Turds
April 6th, 2026 at 9:20 am
We lost almost all of our Super Bowl team which means there has been huge amounts of roster turnover in the past 5 years. The same thing just happened to Seattle- they lost a lot of players. Look for their defense to drop dramatically in rankings this year. With all the changes, it takes a bit to fully gel.
April 6th, 2026 at 9:44 am
Do you think Cowboy fans are satisfied with all of their Super Bowls being 30 years in the past? Are Buffalo fans happy with getting to the playoffs every year only to lose each time? Only mediocre people accept mediocrity.
April 6th, 2026 at 9:47 am
Winning the NFC South is no reason why a HC should keep his job
I totally agree with that
But at the same time, it’s not a reason for him to lose his job either
This team wasn’t expected to win no more than 4-5 games a year, after Brady
But they have been competing every season, even beating good teams
In my opinion, this team has been overachieving
April 6th, 2026 at 9:49 am
Warren Brooks Lynch … ‘I do agree on the close games, you’ve got to be able to score and stop the other team from scoring.’
Excellent point WBL, and in my mind it comes down to playing COMPLEMENTARY FOOTBALL. IF the offense manages to score and take the lead late, the defense has to hold that lead for the Bucs to win. To me that’s COMPLEMENTARY FOOTBALL. And yes, that includes Special Teams IMO.
Unfortunately, the Bucs haven’t been very good at playing complementary football these last couple of years. I’m sure a big part of the reason was injuries & substituting in a lot of players who weren’t nearly as talented as the starters. And yes, another big part of it was coaching, in trying to adapt to all the changes.
Still, I’m convinced now that this year SHOULD be better than last year was. The Offense AND the Defense AND the Special Teams seemed to take turns imploding. Each cost us wins at various times, and rarely seemed to be ‘in sync with each other’. Hoping for a much better year.
April 6th, 2026 at 9:52 am
But he has won the worst division in football three times and true fans know that means something 😂🤣 that’s why he is still here everyone is wrong but him idiots.
April 6th, 2026 at 10:28 am
Just took a more detailed look at the defensive staff changes, and I’m not exactly sure what to make of them.
Bucs have NINE coaches on the defensive staff if you include the DC, Todd Bowles. Every one of them EXCEPT the Defensive Quality Control Coach, Joey Fitzgerald, is in the FIRST YEAR at their current position (all but 2 have been here as assistant coaches for at least 3 years however). IOW … Todd’s changes involved mostly switching assistant coaches into different jobs on the defense. Only 2 are new to the Bucs: Marcus West (the new DLine coach) and Todd Bowles Jr (the new defensive assistant).
o George Edwards: he’s now in his first year as the Passing Game Coordinator (been here 3 yrs).
o Larry Foote: he’s now in his first year as the Run Game Coordinator & OLB Coach (been here 7 yrs).
o Mike Caldwell: He’s now in his first year as the ILB Coach (been here 4 yrs).
o Rashad Johnson: He’s now in his first year as the CB Coach (been here 5 yrs).
o Tim Atkins: He’s now in his first year as the Safeties Coach (been here 7 yrs).
o Marcus West: He’s now in his first year as the DLine Coach (this is his 1st year here; was Buffalo’s DLine coach last 2 yrs).
Looks like the entire defensive staff is essentially the same coaches but most have been reshuffled to coach different positions (and a couple moved up). It’ll be interesting to see how well that reshuffling works out this year.
April 6th, 2026 at 10:41 am
Think the Bucs need a wholesale change to the defense and it’s not just the coaches. Base 4-3 with real DEs that can generate pressure on the QB with only a 4 man front. Heavy Weight players that are big, fast and strong. Not the OLBs that can’t even defeat one on one pass blocking. Every time Bowles dials up another Blitz package, he is leaving big gaps in the backfield and exposing the secondary. Don’t just change the coaches, change the defense and draft the right players. No more 240 pound OLB edge rushers that are also expected to drop back in pass coverage. Does not work.
April 6th, 2026 at 10:54 am
Ashhole ,When the team was healthy the first half of last season they were the best team in football with Bowles I might add.All you armchair HC’s/ GM’s, QBs,drunken philosophers wing eating champions, that can even coach a tailgate part cause their wife does it, you guys are delusional. Its all about the team that stays healthy that wins