John Romano: Is it fair to blame Bowles? Is it justified? Either way, it's reality.

John Romano, Tampa Bay Times on Dec 12, 2025

Published in Football

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

TAMPA, Fla. — By morning, his rage had diminished. Much like his team’s playoff hopes.

Todd Bowles was back in disapproving dad mode, his default setting after most Bucs losses.

The previous night’s collapse was behind him, as was the now-viral clip of his postgame tirade. For a franchise that has housed a horror movie munchkin (Jon Gruden) and a smartass extraordinaire (Bruce Arians) in the head coach’s office, Bowles somehow exceeded every previous rant known to Tampa Bay fans after Thursday night’s 29-28 loss to Atlanta.

He dropped seven f-bombs and a few other salty words in 23 seconds, a rate that would make even John Tortorella blush.

That should put to rest any misguided notion that Bowles lacks the grit to be an NFL head coach, although that revelation may have arrived a few losses too late.

For the outside noise will soon overwhelm us. Not at Raymond James Stadium, but everywhere else Buccaneer fans gather.

They will talk about this team’s collapse on social media and message boards. In taverns and break rooms. On podcasts and radio.

Opinions will flow and blame will be assigned.

And the head coach makes an inviting target.

We can debate whether that’s fair or justified, but it won’t change the perception. And when you’re in the business of selling really expensive tickets to a handful of football games a year, perception is a synonym for reality.

So does that mean Bowles’ fate is sealed? I wouldn’t go that far, but every defeat brings us a little closer to that possibility. And every time Bowles talks dispassionately about lapses in concentration, failed execution and grinding out wins — as he did on Friday morning — it gets a little easier to imagine someone else wearing his hoodie.

The truth is, everyone at One Buc Place is deserving of scrutiny Friday.

It’s now permissible to wonder whether Baker Mayfield will be worthy of another huge contract extension before his current $33.3 million a year deal runs out at the end of the 2026 season. By then, he will be pushing 32, and the aches and bruises he collects with his devil-may-care style of play could be a factor for a smallish quarterback with a 57-60 record as an NFL starter.

It’s also worth pondering whether these next three games are the end of the road for Lavonte David, whose on-field impact is dwindling, not to mention a noticeable lack of postgame presence as a team spokesperson after losses.

Even general manager Jason Licht, whose star has soared in the past five years, could face some post-collapse auditing considering the NFL had always been a buck-stops-here type of industry.

So, yeah, you might say there’s a lot at stake in the next three weeks.

If the Bucs somehow pull it together and win their final three games — which would guarantee them another NFC South title — the sun will seem a little brighter when it rises above Tampa Bay on Jan. 5. Maybe it won’t be enough to blot out the ugliness of the past six weeks, but it certainly beats the alternative.

What’s crazy is the Bucs have a plus-2 turnover margin since November — and they’ve gone 1-5. They’ve committed fewer penalties than their opponents since then — and are 1-5. They’ve had Chris Godwin, Bucky Irving, Mike Evans and Jalen McMillan return on offense — and they’ve gone 1-5.

It makes no sense, which is why Bowles is likely to catch most of the blame. When there is not a single, identifiable reason for a team falling apart as rapidly and spectacularly as the Bucs, the automatic assumption is there’s something wrong with the guy in charge.

And yet, here’s an interesting moment that didn’t happen in November and probably never will at this point:

Had the Bucs beaten the Patriots on Nov. 9, Bowles would have had a 34-26 record in Tampa Bay. His .567 winning percentage would have been higher than John McKay, Jon Gruden and Tony Dungy — three coaches immortalized in the Bucs Ring of Honor.

Instead, the Bucs have blown their two-game lead in the division and Bowles has squandered much of the goodwill that a 5-1 start bought him.

All that’s left of the Bucs season is a defibrillator and a prayer.

Maybe blowing a 14-point lead in the final 10 minutes against a crappy team will be the shock to the system that the Bucs needed. Maybe now that Carolina is alone in first place the pressure will land on its shoulders. Maybe this is all a setup to one of the great comebacks in Tampa Bay history.

Or maybe Thursday night’s rant was an early epitaph to a lost opportunity.