Todd Bowles And Hot Seat Chatter
September 1st, 2026
Job security.
The “Heed the Call” gang believes Bucs coach Todd Bowles is walking a tightrope, perhaps without a net.
The popular NFL podcast went through each NFL head coach to determine what it would take for said coach to get run. Yes, even guys like Sean Payton, Andy Reid and Sean McVay.
When Bowles’ name came up, all seemed to agree Bowles must at least have a playoff appearance this fall to survive.
Dan Hanzus, the former NFL.com analyst, scoffed when someone mentioned winning the division as a goal for Bowles, asking if the NFC South is “really a division?” Hanzus believes winning the NFC South really shouldn’t be valued, as any less-than-mediocre team could do it.
“A slow start could signal doom for Bowles,” Hanzus said.
Conor Orr had an issue with Bowles throwing last year’s offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard under the bus.
“[Bowles] pulled the big lever,” Orr said. “He changed the offensive coordinator and, in effect, blamed last season on [Grizzard]. And then spent a first-round pick on a defensive player instead of help for the offense.”
Orr added Bowles loading up on defense in the draft was a sure sign of “preservation mode.”
Co-host Marc Sessler even remarked that Bowles could be part of a larger organizational housecleaning. Sessler suggested the Bucs are the same team every year — blah and average. Sessler also believes the Baker Mayfield contract hassle was bungled by the team.
James Palmer pushed back on the housecleaning angle.
“The collapse, if you talk to people in that building, it really was a lot of it, in their mind, we’ll see if it was right or wrong, but the health of Baker Mayfield,” Palmer said. “Like he could barely move from the number of injuries he was battling.
“They believe [Mayfield’s injuries] played a big part in that collapse down the stretch. Obviously, they are saying that because they saw how well he played in the first half of the season which was borderline MVP-type of play.”
As for Hanzus mocking the NFC South as a dreadful division (he’s not wrong), Palmer desribed winning the NFC South as “best trailer on the cul-de-sac in the subdivision.”
Joe firmly believes there is an easy way for Bowles to stop folks from talking about his job security: Win games. Lots of them.
September 1st, 2026 at 7:05 am
Sure, Bowles seat is very hot. But these guys are clueless about the details. Orr wanted the Bucs to bypass Bain and pick an offensive player in round 1?
September 1st, 2026 at 7:07 am
lol, even clowns get a podcast
September 1st, 2026 at 7:07 am
So who would replace him? Who’s out there other than Gruden? I know, it’s too early….. I’m just wondering.
September 1st, 2026 at 7:15 am
To be fair I don’t think they spent draft capital on defense due to bowels, they spend if based on value and Bain was best available just like Egbuka was best available last year in their rankings. Regardless of what happens to bowels this year that’s how you keep a franchise moving the right direction.
September 1st, 2026 at 7:16 am
@joe bob pigskin, I think Tomlin would be the move if we move on from Bowles
September 1st, 2026 at 7:17 am
Calling last year a Bowles collapse without mentioning the injuries is like reviewing the Titanic and deducting points for poor deck-chair placement.
Last year wasn’t preservation mode. By December it was organ-donor mode.
“Same team every year.” Sure—except for the minor detail where last year’s version needed a triage tent behind the bench.
September 1st, 2026 at 7:18 am
Bowles is a deadman walking. The Blazers saved money by keeping him. He’s terrible he couldn’t even get hired as a DC in this league.
It starts week one in Cincy. Watch the secondary blow coverages all over the place. Chase and Burrow hang 50 on Bowles in week one. Bain will be playing corner back instead of rushing the passer.
same script different year. Nobody can run on this team blah blah blah. That’s because they can throw it at will. On Bowles defense. Fire him now
6-11
September 1st, 2026 at 7:21 am
A good portion of the Bucs fans believe he doesn’t even deserve a seat at all!…
I’ve seen him rank in the bottom 5 of NFL coaches ….
Many believe it will not be any level of difficult for someone to be more successful than him …
Easily replaceable!!!
September 1st, 2026 at 7:23 am
The Glazers will NOT fire Bowles.
After this team goes 7-10 – Todd Bowles will retire or get a “promotion” like BA got…
I’m starting to wonder if our “ROH” GM is on the heated seat this season.
This CB unit should be considered General Management malpractice.
September 1st, 2026 at 7:35 am
Every analogy they used about the division is sadly accurate. Sessler nailed it when pointing out “the Bucs are the same team every year — blah and average”. That’s the perfect definition of a Bowles lead team his entire coaching career. The fact that so many (including the Glazers & Licht) fail to see that is incredibly frustrating. It’s like a bus full of players going down the road, but without a driver. todd’s in the front passenger seat insisting the players are responsible for keeping the bus full of fuel & moving, and then he and others find an excuse each time the trip ends in a crash.
September 1st, 2026 at 7:36 am
If Bowles fails this season, and is fired, Licht needs to go too. Has to be a package deal. Both are to blame for future failure.
September 1st, 2026 at 7:37 am
What? You mean you have no faith in him taking us to the Super Bowl?💩
September 1st, 2026 at 7:38 am
Accurate
September 1st, 2026 at 7:38 am
There is literally no other way to look at it. They are just waiting out the year to hire Mike Tomlin waiting in the wings. Few commitments of players and coaches provide a nice clean slate for another defensive-minded coach who would rather put money everywhere else but at the quarterback position
September 1st, 2026 at 7:39 am
there is a rumor that the Glazers are interviewing Colin Kaepernick to replace Bowles as HC – he’d probably do a better job – there is another rumor that the Glazers are looking to replace not-ROH-worthy Fred-Flintstone-doppelgänger Jason Licht with Jordon Hudson – that would likewise be an improvement
September 1st, 2026 at 7:43 am
I’m not sure what the fascination with Tomlin is from a percentage of the fan base. He’s exceedingly average. In fact, he is probably the coach who replicates Bowles style the most. Take away the early super bowl win as head coach, on a strong team with an elite quarterback and what do you have? An exceedingly average coach. Defensive minded. Stubborn. Stoic. The fans in Pittsburgh said almost the exact same things about him as the fan base does here with Todd. It also goes against the Bucs propensity to pick a coach with a style that differs from the previous one. Meaning we would likely look for someone who is an offensive -minded coach. Anyway, if it comes down to it and this is final year for him, there are many options available. A retread who is almost a clone of the current coach is is not the right move.
September 1st, 2026 at 7:46 am
I’m not sure Tomlin isn’t our coach next year regardless. Bowles can go out in style or go out losing, but either way I think he’s in his final season here.
September 1st, 2026 at 7:47 am
@ Steven
RE: Tomlin – I agree…
I don’t get the infatuation either but he would probably still be an improvement over “The Toad”.
September 1st, 2026 at 7:53 am
@Steven007,
THANK YOU!. In 19 years of coaching the Steelers, Mike Tomlins teams have either missed the playoffs or lost in the first round 15 times.
And I can definitely be wrong, but I think he would cost a draft pick.
The same people wanting Tomlin would despise seeing the Bucs hire Belicheck. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want either of them. But at least BB has the belts on the wall.
September 1st, 2026 at 7:54 am
Sigh, “pelts”.
No, I haven’t started early. LOL
September 1st, 2026 at 7:58 am
@ Drunk
LOL!
Pelts/Belts/Rings/Banners – we gotcha bud.
September 1st, 2026 at 8:01 am
Tomlin? Again fans looking backwards. Good coach, but not the future, just the past. Need a young offensive mind, like the Jags Coen. Oh wait, blew that one.
September 1st, 2026 at 8:05 am
“Co-host Marc Sessler even remarked that Bowles could be part of a larger organizational housecleaning. Sessler suggested the Bucs are the same team every year — blah and average.”
Even non-Buc fans can see this is a tank year. As I’ve been saying for months, every season with Bowles is groundhog day. Except the team gets worse every year. And people love to use injuries as an excuse for last year’s fall off but the team was healthy in 2024 they couldn’t make it out of the first round, at home. Just excuse after excuse after excuse.
No excuses this season for anyone associated with this team this season. This roster was handcrafted by Licht and Bowles so they need to figure it out.
September 1st, 2026 at 8:16 am
BM didn’t play like an mvp in Detroit or New Orleans. That means he played at an mvp level for 6 games. That a little more than 1/3 of the season, not half.
As for Todd winning games, at his best he wins 10 games in the nfc south. And to accomplish that goal he needed a cup cake schedule down the stretch and still almost blew it at home against the saints.
There is no such schedule this season.
September 1st, 2026 at 8:17 am
He is a distraction at this point. Winning cures. Go Bucs
September 1st, 2026 at 8:20 am
I don’t get the obsession some of you have with Mike Tomlin. Too sentimental? Last time they went that route, they ended up with lousy Lovie Smith.
He would be a horrible mistake. This team needs continuity on offense, which is something you’re not getting hiring Tomlin, or any defensive minded head coach.
If Bowles is launched, Tomlin is just more of the same. The QB room – whether it’s Mayfield or Daniels – needs some consistency. It’s easier to find and keep a good DC than an OC.
September 1st, 2026 at 8:45 am
Joe has been typing for months that Todd Bowles has done a better job than Mike Tomlin since 2022. The evidence is out there for anyone to read.
But Tomlin gets fired up on the sidelines!
September 1st, 2026 at 9:03 am
Another hater of innovation defensive coach is not the answer. Didn’t they learn with Arians? Coen? How many years of stuck in the ditch Bowles do we have to endure before reality dawns on the Glazers. Blah and average just scratches the surface of how inept and ineffectual this regime has been. Totally outclassed in almost every prime time encounter against the better teams. It’s not once in a while. It’s a pattern of ill prepared, non-motivated, mentally beaten before kickoff teams led to slaughter. We come out flat every important contest and play catch up. New concepts or the occasional trick play never considered. Dull, bland, schemes fooling no one and easily figured out by the opposition is the trademark Bowles M.O. Bowles learned nothing from Arians. In fact, he goes out of his way to do just the opposite. “We do what we do.” Yes Todd, you lose.
September 1st, 2026 at 9:06 am
Hard pass on Tomlin. Just a slightly better version of Bowles. No thanks.
Old, tired, and stubborn is the best descriptor of them both.
Give me a younger HC and a competent DC please. I beg you!!!!
Otherwise we’re just stuck in reverse. Going nowhere fast.
Bowles seat should be volcanic this season. He shouldn’t even be employed as is.
September 1st, 2026 at 9:16 am
Let me see if I’ve got this right. We’re about to start a new season, we’ve got an improved team from a talent perspective, and have just created our first 53-man roster of 2026. But instead of focusing on our 1st game in Cincy, we instead opt to discuss our HC being on the hot seat. And of course that cues all the JBFers who abhor him & want him gone … yesterday.
Newsflash: EVERY HC is on the hotseat every year. Have a really bad season and every malcontent wants your hide. And if ownership is presented with a ‘better offer’, then voila, teams end up with new coaches. Unless I’m reading wrong, TEN NFL teams out of 32 have different head coaches this year. That’s a pretty good turnover in just 1 year.
JBFers have speculated so much about Todd Bowles current employment & future that the subject isn’t just a dead horse; it’s dogfood now.
September 1st, 2026 at 9:21 am
@DR
Todd Bowles should have been fired after the loss to the Commanders in 2024.
Instead he was extended and allowed to drain more from the pool.
After last season it is completely abhorrent that he remains in his position.
So yeah, he’s getting both barrels. Rightly so as we’ve had enough.
When you think of garbage, think of Bowles coaching philosophy.
September 1st, 2026 at 9:23 am
5 months and counting until this Arians free pass experiment is over
Todd did not earn this job, he was given it out of necessity when Arians left the team in a bind
I HOPE I am wrong about him and this team, but after 7 seasons of inept pass defense, awful in game decisions and the baffling gameplans on defense, I am ready for Todd to be gone and hopefully hire a good offensive mind to lead this team into the future.
September 1st, 2026 at 9:27 am
When we win 10+ games this year and notch (at least one) playoff game victory, will anyone give Todd Bowles credit?
Last season is over. It is a new day.
He is our head coach [today]. I, for one, am cautiously optimistic that this squad will win football games and am excited about this season. As TB is the head coach for my beloved Buccaneers – he has my support. Well, at least I desire that Coach Bowles has learned from mistakes; channels all of his experience (both good & bad) into the best coaching season of his career this year.
Just one man’s humble opinion, for what it’s worth. Cue laugh track.
September 1st, 2026 at 9:42 am
Sweep the Division and go .500 on the rest, Bowles is in the playoffs. If the NFC South is so bad, why wouldn’t you sweep them?
September 1st, 2026 at 9:46 am
I’m over Terrible Todd, and I’m over screaming all off season for Licht to get some real CBs. At this point it is what it is.
Ready or not, cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war. Go Bucs!!
September 1st, 2026 at 9:56 am
Jason Licht is 61-86 without the GOAT.
Licht is omn the hot seat with Bowles.
Time for a total reset. No more loser blue licht specials. No thanks.
September 1st, 2026 at 9:58 am
Licht and Bowles have to be on a sizzling cast iron seat this season. When Todd’s defense has another monumental collapse – I’m predicting a 3rd and 30 collapse, it’ll damn near melt the cast iron.