The Buccaneers are heading into Thursday night with Todd Bowles’ future suddenly looking a lot less settled than it did a few weeks ago.
A September report had suggested Tampa Bay ownership would wait until the end of the season before deciding whether to move on from Bowles. But that was before Baker Mayfield suffered a dislocated thumb on his throwing hand, and before the Bucs followed that up with a 17-14 home loss to the Green Bay Packers that dropped them to 0-4.
Now the schedule throws Tampa Bay right into another tough spot: a short-week road trip to face the 2-2 Dallas Cowboys. And in a Monday morning piece, NFL insider Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk and NBC Sports raised the possibility that Thursday night could be Bowles’ final game in charge.
“It won’t get any easier on Thursday night, with a short-week trip to Dallas,” Florio wrote about the Buccaneers. “The Cowboys are not easy to beat at home, and Tampa Bay will have an undrafted rookie at quarterback against Dak Prescott and company.
Then comes the mini-bye, which provides an opportunity for the Bucs to make a coaching change. There’s a benefit to an in-season termination; it gives the team a longer runway to search for the next coach.”
The quarterback situation is a huge part of why the outlook has turned so bleak. With undrafted rookie Jalon Daniels set to start, it’s hard to picture Tampa Bay pulling off an upset in Dallas. As of early Thursday afternoon, DraftKings Sportsbook had the Buccaneers installed as 9.5-point road underdogs.
At the same time, there’s a reason the Buccaneers could decide to keep Bowles in place even if the losses keep piling up. Florio pointed to the lack of an obvious interim option on the current staff.
“Working in Bowles' benefit is the fact that there’s no clear candidate on his staff to serve as the interim head coach,” Florio added. “There’s no defensive coordinator.
Offensive coordinator Zac Robinson is in his first year with the team, after being fired by the Falcons. The special-teams coordinator is Danny Smith.
The Bucs could go outside the organization for an interim hire, like the Colts did in 2022 when Jeff Saturday replaced Frank Reich. Or the Bucs could just ride it out, quietly planning for a new direction in 2027 while allowing the balance of 2026 to play itself out.”
Tampa Bay’s slide has been dramatic. Since entering Week 9 of the 2025 season at 6-2, the Buccaneers have been one of the league’s worst teams, and Bowles finished last season 8-9. For now, the next checkpoint is Dallas - and possibly the point where the organization has to decide whether the rest of the season belongs to Bowles or someone else.
Mayfield could potentially be back for Tampa Bay’s Week 6 home game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Oct. 18. The question is whether he would return to a team still led by Bowles, or one already operating under an interim coach.
In Other News...
Bucs Fans Wont Like What This Todd Bowles Reality Means
The Buccaneers 0-4 start has put Todd Bowles squarely in the crosshairs of a frustrated fan base, and the noise around his job is only getting louder as the losses pile up. But inside the organization, the stance appears unchanged: the Glazer family has long preferred to avoid midseason coaching moves, even when the season is slipping away.
That leaves Tampa Bay in a familiar kind of limbo, with a new coaching staff that does not have an obvious interim replacement waiting in the wings. For now, Bowles is expected to keep steering the team through the rest of the season, which means the bigger question for the Buccaneers may not be whether a change is coming now, but how much patience remains once the year finally runs its course. [Read more 🡒]
Commanders Suddenly Have A Quarterback Question They Didn't Expect
Through Week 4 of the 2026 season, the quarterback picture around the league has already taken a few unexpected turns, and Tampa Bay has been part of that churn. Rookie Jalon Daniels got his first NFL start for the Buccaneers because of an injury situation, and while the outing was a rough one, he showed enough resilience to keep himself in the conversation as the team sorts through its depth behind center.
Washington found itself in a similar spot when Athan Kaliakmanis was thrust into action for Marcus Mariota and handled the moment well before the Commanders ended up on the wrong side of the result. Mariota is expected to miss time with a knee injury, while Jayden Daniels is set to return despite his elbow issue, leaving Washington with an immediate question at quarterback and a decision that could shape the next stretch of its season. [Read more 🡒]
Bucs Fans Have Every Right To Question This Late-Game Decision
Late in the game against the Green Bay Packers, Todd Bowles faced one of those calls that can hang around long after the final whistle. With 1:34 remaining, the Buccaneers coach chose to keep the offense on the field rather than send Chase McLaughlin out for a 65-yard field-goal try, even though the kicker has built a strong reputation for accuracy and had already connected from that same distance earlier in the 2025 season.
Bowles pointed to the length of the kick and the wind conditions as the reasons for passing on the attempt, but it is the kind of decision that naturally invites a second look. When a kicker has already shown he can hit from that range, leaving points on the table in a tight late-game spot is the sort of move fans will remember, especially if the drive does not end with the kind of payoff the choice requires. [Read more 🡒]