The Tampa Bay Buccaneers walked out of Sunday’s loss to the Cleveland Browns with more than an 0-2 record. They left with the kind of frustration that spills into a postgame podium session and tells you exactly how bad the mood is inside the building.
Todd Bowles and Baker Mayfield both sounded fed up after another game defined by mistakes the Buccaneers made themselves. Tampa Bay has now dropped to 2-9 dating back to last season’s collapse after a 6-2 start, and the trend line is hard to ignore. This team keeps finding new ways to hurt itself.
Bowles made it plain that the fix has to come from within.
“Nobody is coming to save us. You know, the penalties and the missed tackles, we got to correct ourselves and we got to do it in a hurry.
We’ve dealt with adversity before. This is an adverse situation again.”
Mayfield delivered a similar message, and his frustration came through just as clearly.
“Just can’t keep making the same mistakes over and over… It’s shooting ourselves in the foot. Not making the plays when we need them… These are fixable things, but that also makes it more frustrating.”
That frustration is easy to understand, because the Bucs have not just been losing - they’ve been helping opponents. Penalties, missed tackles and blown coverages keep piling up, and those unforced errors have been a major reason Tampa Bay keeps falling short.
Mayfield also had a hand in Sunday’s damage with an interception that turned into points for Cleveland. That’s become part of the problem, too. Dating back to last season, the Buccaneers are 1-9 when Mayfield throws an interception, and they haven’t shown they can consistently survive those turnovers from their quarterback.
The road ahead doesn’t offer much relief. The 2-0 Minnesota Vikings are coming to town next weekend, and if Tampa Bay looks anything like it has through the first two games, that matchup could get ugly fast at Raymond James Stadium.
The Buccaneers are staring at 0-3 unless something changes in a hurry. Bowles was already under pressure before the season started, and that heat is only going to build if the losses keep stacking up, regardless of where the blame falls.
Mayfield, meanwhile, signed the largest contract in franchise history a week before the season began. The $165 million man has been off to a rough start through two games, and the size of that deal is already inviting questions about the organization’s decision.
For now, the formula is simple: winning changes everything. A few victories could cool the noise around both Bowles and Mayfield. Keep playing like this, though, and the pressure in Tampa Bay is going to get a lot more intense.
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