The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are only two games into the season, but the pressure around Todd Bowles is already real.
Tampa Bay came into the year feeling good about the roster it had built. Baker Mayfield even said the Bucs would "shock a lot of people" in 2026.
Instead, the first two weeks have delivered a jolt of a different kind. The Bucs are 0-2 after opening losses, including a home defeat to the Cleveland Browns in a game they were favored to win by 8.5 points.
That has turned Sunday’s matchup with the Minnesota Vikings into more than just a Week 3 game. If Tampa Bay falls again and starts 0-3, the conversation around the team could get ugly fast. In the NFL, that kind of start is often a near-death sentence for a team that entered the season with playoff hopes.
The next stretch is the real test. The Buccaneers have three games in 12 days, and those three chances may decide whether Bowles keeps his job. Tampa Bay will face the Vikings, the Green Bay Packers and the Dallas Cowboys, and if the losses keep piling up, the Glazer family could be pushed into something it has never done before: fire a Buccaneers head coach during the season.
Bowles’ recent record is not helping his case. He is 3-10 in his last 13 games with the team, and the issues Tampa Bay tried to address this offseason are still hanging around. The pass rush has struggled badly, the defense remains exposed in the middle of the field and the offense has looked stuck even after a coordinator change.
If the Bucs were to drop all three of these upcoming games, Bowles would fall to 3-13 in his last 16. At that point, it would be hard to argue that the problems have been fixed, or even meaningfully improved.
Even if the Glazers choose not to make a move during the season, the outlook would still be bleak. A start like 0-5 or even 1-4 would almost certainly bury Tampa Bay’s playoff chances, even in the NFC South. That would leave Bowles in a familiar but miserable spot - effectively coaching out the string while waiting for the inevitable end.
The Cowboys game on Thursday Night Football in Week 5 looms as the biggest one of all. A bad loss on national television could accelerate everything.
A 2-2 start going into that game would change the tone completely. A 1-3 start would leave plenty of room for alarm.
A 0-4 start would make the rest of the season feel like a lost cause.
For now, the focus is on the Vikings. Tampa Bay and Bowles will try to get back on track Sunday at 4:05 p.m. If they can’t, the pressure only gets heavier from there.
In Other News...
Bucs Loss Exposed A Bigger Problem Than Fans Wanted To See
The Buccaneers 23-16 loss to the Vikings in Week 3 was more than just a one-score setback. Tampa Bay kept bumping into the same problems on both sides of the ball, with the offense never finding much rhythm under coordinator Zac Robinson and the defense undone at key moments, including an 86-yard punt return touchdown that tilted the game in Minnesotas favor.
Baker Mayfield finished with a 50% completion rate, one touchdown and one interception, then added a right hand injury late in the game to an already frustrating night. There were also rough stretches for players such as cornerback Jacob Parrish and right tackle Luke Goedeke, leaving the Bucs with an uncomfortable reminder that the issues exposed Sunday go well beyond a single bad sequence or a single phase of the game. [Read more 🡒]
Baker Mayfield Injury Just Raised The Stakes For A Reeling Bucs Team
Tampa Bays rough Week 3 got even messier late in the loss to Minnesota, when Baker Mayfield dislocated his thumb near the end of the game. The Buccaneers were already dealing with the sting of another defeat, and the injury to their starting quarterback quickly became the biggest concern coming out of the night.
Todd Bowles said Mayfield will undergo an MRI to get a better read on the injury, leaving the team waiting on a clearer update. Mayfield was replaced by rookie Jalon Daniels after leaving the game, and for a Bucs team trying to steady itself, the timing of the setback only adds to the pressure heading into the next stretch. [Read more 🡒]
Bucs Loss Exposed Problems Fans Wont Stop Arguing About
The Buccaneers latest loss did more than dent the standings - it reopened the same arguments that have followed this team for weeks. Between the defenses uneven stretches, the offenses uneven rhythm and a special teams sequence that left plenty of second-guessing behind, the game against Minnesota became the kind of all-around mess that forces a closer look at how Tampa Bay is being coached and why so many drives still seem to stall at the wrong time.
Todd Bowles now has a familiar debate on his hands, because the scrutiny is not just about one bad afternoon but about how the Bucs handled key moments through the first three quarters. Baker Mayfield, Bucky Irving and a few others had their moments, but the bigger issue is whether the teams decisions and execution can keep matching up against good opponents when the game starts tightening. [Read more 🡒]