Todd Bowles Talks Getting Back To The Super Bowl
May 14th, 2026
Big themes. Big dreams.
The Buccaneers’ head coach is fired up and thinking big — very big.
Joe expects that from every Bucs head coach, but Joe doesn’t always expect those feelings to be heard.
Yesterday on the The Jim Rome Show, heard nationally, Todd Bowles was talking about the big game in February, and he had more juice in his voice than usual.
“Well, the next step for us is trying to get to the Super Bowl,” Bowles said. “It’s a process. You gotta be healthy. You gotta get lucky. You gotta make plays. And you gotta do all those things. We lost a lot of three-point games, especially in the second half of the season. Those things gotta be corrected. But the guys we brought in, along with the draft picks, if it meshes all well, we think we got as good a shot as anybody.”
Bowles does have a lot pieces, including a talented and experienced offense with a seasoned playcaller, and a special teams group that should no longer be clueless.
There are plenty of reasons for optimism, and for fans to be intolerant of sad football.
May 14th, 2026 at 5:46 am
Time for Bowles to use his defensive guys the correct way. If he runs the same slop he has the last 2 years, they probably won’t have a winning record (again). We’ll find out if he really did look in the mirror, like he talks about.
May 14th, 2026 at 5:50 am
Back to the Super Bowl?
At this point I’d like to see him prove that the team can avoid prolonged 3-4 game losing streaks under his leadership and win 11-12 games in the regular season and not look incompetent against certain teams and in prime time.
Why don’t we start there.
May 14th, 2026 at 6:09 am
Hahaha Bowles will never win a Super Bowl, Mike Tomlin n Jim Schwartz next year sounds amazing, but we will probably run it back in 27 after we win the South with a 7-10 record smdh
May 14th, 2026 at 6:37 am
Sounds to me like Bowles is pleading for Baker to stay and help him complete his contract.
May 14th, 2026 at 7:23 am
How about winning at home? Or at night?
May 14th, 2026 at 7:25 am
This guy is delusional. There’s nothing in his HC record that indicates he’s anything more than mediocre.
Maybe he should set his sights on winning 10+ games and winning a playoff game where the opponent doesn’t lay down.
May 14th, 2026 at 7:26 am
I’d like to believe, but literally nothing he has done makes me think he’s a Super Bowl caliber HC. If it were up to him he’d have kept Thomas M, his buddy, as special teams coach. How that clown wasn’t fired mid season is beyond comprehension. Again you gotta take Todd talk with a lot of skepticism. Anyone remember last at the start of the season when he stated how much he liked the LB group? Try to win one playoff game Todd because that’s probably your ceiling.
May 14th, 2026 at 7:46 am
A coach that relies on luck to get to the Super Bowl?
See you there in February.
May 14th, 2026 at 7:57 am
Bucs have made a massive roster change this season, especially on defense. Obviously we won’t know the final roster until Preseason ends, but it’s really not that hard to predict what our start season roster will look like.
LOTS of new pieces, and from what I can see they’re all talented. The free agents we brought in all seem to be starters last year (Robinson, RNR, Anzalone, Rozeboom, Gainwell) or key role players (Muhammad, Killebrew, Skule, Browning), plus we’re getting a number of guys back from injuries (Mauch, Kieft, Walker). We’ve drafted very well it looks like, and now it’s a matter of getting it all to ‘gel’ into a quality TEAM.
We all know that’s no easy task, but it’s not JUST on the coaches. We’ve all seen in the past where quality team leaders can make a huge difference. I think we’ll have that this year, but it might take awhile for ‘the cream to rise to the top’. I’m thinking that guys like Robinson & RNR & Anzalone & Killebrew will ultimately rise to the level of ‘field generals’ and be perfectly capable of identifying problems on the field, and then make changes.
I’m still optimistic about this year. I’m hoping that we win the NFC South and at least go 2 deep in the playoffs. Hard to imagine making so many changes & then winning the Super Bowl. It’s obviously statistically possible, but not highly likely. But it could still be a fun year for fans, and set the stage for the next couple of years.
May 14th, 2026 at 8:07 am
The defense will have to get us to the Super Bowl
This offense is far too inconsistent
I believe we can get there with great defense and ST
May 14th, 2026 at 8:07 am
I think our offense is capable of overcoming any of Bowles defensive play calling and scheming deficiencies.
May 14th, 2026 at 8:30 am
might want an experienced DB or two on your roster !! Licht has the ability to make the team much better after the draft every year !! But he doesn’t !! he’s like a it’s my roster druggie. He says one thing but does nothing !! Many an observer think this year the Bucs corner position is a problem !! and for the love of the dumb jock disease , quit thinking you can get safety hybrids that can cover in the slot as primary dime type .We drafted bunting who was 6 foot one and made for this, but we let him go…….. the Bucs need a tall corner that can cover in the slot on third and longs , hybrid safeties that are 5 foot nine get destroyed…… Parrish looks to be going outside …. A Pass Rush will Help !! Go Bucs
May 14th, 2026 at 8:50 am
I’d rather see him fired up with consistently getting his defense off the field on 3rd down. If Bowles cannot accomplish that this year, his quote will not age well and a future headline with his name with the word “fired” in it will read different.
May 14th, 2026 at 8:50 am
Davenport … ‘There’s nothing in his (Bowles) HC record that indicates he’s anything more than mediocre.’
Todd Bowles’ 4-year record as Bucs’ HC (35 wins-33 losses) is admittedly as close to ‘average’ as you can probably get. I’m not sure that ‘average’ is the same as ‘mediocre’ but hey, it’s all in the eye of the beholder.
His defenses obviously did better when he was just DC (2019-2021) under Bruce Arians. We ranked in the Top-10 twice (2020 & 2021). We won 5-out-of-6 playoff games in those 2 years, and his defenses were a big factor in what we accomplished as a team. Of course, those defenses did have the advantage of guys like Vea, Suh, JPP, Shaq, LVD, Davis, Winfield and yes Dean, Gholston & other quality starters. LOTS of experience in those names, and they were all hungry. ‘Todd the Mediocre’ (nah, doesn’t fit) molded them into a quality defense that got the job done.
Things obviously changed in 2022 when Todd was upgraded to HC AND DC in a late change, plus a number of those quality starters weren’t re-signed (Suh, JPP among others). The offense also lost a number of starters, and it basically fell off a cliff that year (went from scoring 511 pts in 2021 down almost 200 pts to scoring only 313 pts in 2022). THAT’s sad.
But we rebounded somewhat in 2023. Bowles had our defense playing better that season (gave up only 19.1 PPG) than it had since Monte Kiffin’s 2007 defense gave up only 17.0 PPG. Why, I don’t know, because these last 2 years after that were very ‘mediocre’ as our PPG Allowed average rose to 22.6 PPG in 2024 then even higher to 24.2 PPG in 2025. Injuries obviously rose these last 2 years, but it was lack of depth IMO that hurt us even more.
Still, LOTS of changes this off-season and I think they’ve been quality changes. I really do believe that our defense can end up back in the Top-10 this year. Last year’s #10 defense surrendered 346 pts (20.4 PPG average). With the changes we’ve made, I think we can beat that. Love to see us beat 20 PPG average but, as always, only time will tell.
May 14th, 2026 at 8:53 am
“We lost a lot of three-point games, especially in the second half of the season.”
12 of 17 games decided by a TD or less.
The same games we played early in the season and won with “comebacks” are the same style of game we lost later in the season.
We’re not as down as some would make it out to be, but we do have multiple areas where it’d be nice to see some improvement early in the season in all 3 phases.
May 14th, 2026 at 8:58 am
The Bucs won’t go anywhere with Morrison and McColumn at cornerback. They won’t even win the division, much less a super bowl. I sure hope he has a plan to replace both of them. Right now it looks like at least one of them will start. Huge gamble and mistake in my opinion
May 14th, 2026 at 9:03 am
Best Troll bait in awhile Joe, this should be a fun comment section.
May 14th, 2026 at 9:20 am
Games won or lost are typically decided by HC, OC and DC decisions in the final 8 minutes of the games. Todd cannot get out of his own way and has no killer instinct. He’s made ALOT of mistakes in closing moments of games and I believe he’d be out coached by most of the existing HC in the league currently. I’ll use Dave Canales and 3rd and 28 as exhibit A.
May 14th, 2026 at 9:28 am
What a crock of SPIT ! This one is a laugher !
May 14th, 2026 at 9:30 am
sweeping the division!!!!!!
do that and things MAY fall into place!!!
GO BUCS!!!!
May 14th, 2026 at 9:31 am
*sweep
May 14th, 2026 at 9:45 am
Not with this coach.
May 14th, 2026 at 9:53 am
Nothing Bowles said is that crazy. Super Bowl teams in this mediocre era do tend to be healthy at the end of the season, make the critical plays and do get lucky (often with penalties).
It’s no secret. The NFL is designed for any team to win. Maybe 10 are not close. Of the other 22, one will win. It won’t mean they are great, just like Seattle was not great. Super Bowl winner and great aren’t the same anymore.