Todd Bowles had the most reliable weapon on his roster, and he still chose not to use it.
That decision came into sharp focus late in Tampa Bay’s 17-14 loss to the Green Bay Packers, when the Bucs faced fourth-and-11 from the Green Bay 47-yard line with 1:34 left in the fourth quarter. A 65-yard field goal from Chase McLaughlin would have tied the game and sent it to overtime. Bowles considered it, then kept the offense on the field.
What followed was the kind of ending that leaves a coach second-guessed immediately. Tampa Bay needed 11 yards and got nowhere close.
Undrafted rookie quarterback Jalon Daniels, making his first career start, was hit almost instantly by an unblocked Evan Williams. It was the third straight snap in which the Packers sent a free rusher at Daniels.
Williams wrapped him up, Daniels tried to force a throw over the middle, and the pass landed harmlessly in traffic. That was it for the Bucs, who dropped to 0-4 for the first time since 2013.
After the game, Bowles was asked directly why he didn’t go with the field goal.
“We did (think about kicking a field goal). It was too far for us, a good 10-15 yards too far for us,” Bowles said.
“The wind was blowing that way as well. We thought about it, we didn’t feel good about it.”
The explanation stood out because McLaughlin has been one of the safest bets in the league since arriving in Tampa Bay in 2023. He’s made 100 of 110 field goal tries for a 90.9% rate, and he’s 29 of 33 from 50 yards and beyond. This season, he’s perfect on nine field goal attempts and 3-for-3 from 50-plus, with a long of 59 yards against the Cleveland Browns in Week 2.
That wasn’t even the most dramatic long-range moment of his recent run. In Week 4 of the 2025 season against the Philadelphia Eagles, McLaughlin hit a 65-yarder - the longest outdoor field goal in NFL history at the time.
So the question hangs there: was 65 yards really too much for the kicker who has already proven he can handle that kind of distance? Bowles clearly thought the wind and the spot made it a bridge too far.
But with the way Tampa Bay’s offense was functioning, the alternative ended up looking worse. The Bucs asked a struggling unit led by a first-time starter to gain 11 yards instead of trusting the most dependable player they have.
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