Buccaneers legend Rondé Barber may need a psych evaluation.

Nearly every local media outlet/Bucs analyst picked the 2026 Buccaneers to win the NFC South before the season started. But Barber is convinced that same local media is part of a movement that wants the Bucs to fail because (wait for it) then they can say, ‘I told you so.’

Barber dropped a nearly preposterous take on his weekly WFLA-TV streaming show yesterday. He says the town turned on the Bucs and it started with the Baker Mayfield and Vita Vea summer contract impasses.

“There’s been this vibe around Tampa — and the front office and dealing with Baker and dealing Vita, dealing with Tristan [Wirfs] missed all of training camp … you’re like, ‘What is going on?'” Barber said. “And then it’s permeating itself into the local media, who just want to hate on the Bucs. Positivity actually brings positivity; there’s an energy thing out there, if you believe in that type of thing. It’s not here. It’s like everybody wants this team to fail. And then when it does fail, you want to say, ‘I told you so.’ That’s what Tampa is right now.'”

The Bucs opened 0-4 and lost their first four home games of this season. There’s not a city in the United States that wouldn’t be sour about their veteran football team delivering that kind of start.

Does Barber not realize this?

After the Bucs lost to Pittsburgh at home, Barber himself spent most of his show not talking about the Bucs, waiting 40-plus minutes to get into the game. Joe doesn’t know of any other local media that avoided talking about the team — bad and good.

The reality is local media is largely a selfish group. Media types want the Bucs to succeed because it puts money in their pockets, makes the daily grind more fun, and raises their profiles on social media and elsewhere.

Claiming the media hates the Bucs or is hoping the team loses is ridiculous in Joe’s mind. The explosion of support for the Bucs if the team had completed its wild comeback against the Bears on Sunday would have been immense.