Look y’all…every Bucs mention for Most Disappointing had redemption moments. This was one of the toughest I have ever had to write. But I’ll give it my best shot. And when you leave comments keep in mind, I know that whoever you don’t agree with could have been left off the list.

With all that said, here is the “Most” Disappointing from the Bucs’ 30-19 win over the 49ers.

Bucs Defensive Coverage From 10:00 Q1 – 7:30 Q3

After a strong start over the first two drives, cracks started to appear on the backend of the Bucs’ defense. On back-to-back drives a coverage bust led to an explosive play from Mac Jones to Kendrick Bourne. On just two big catches he totaled a quick 97 yards. But on subsequent drives the cracks got larger as Mac Jones started to carve up the defense.

49ers receivers found room at the second level over and over just behind the Bucs linebackers who couldn’t drop fast enough and in front of the safeties trying to keep plays in front of them. From the third drive of the game through the end of the first half Jones was 12-16 for 159 yards averaging just a hair under 10 yards per attempt. And if Demarcus Robinson doesn’t drop an easy explosive on their final drive of the first half those numbers look better and San Francisco ends that drive possibly with seven points instead of three.

Bucs head coach Todd Bowles – Photo by: Cliff Welch P/R

The game plan from Bowles was obvious. He flooded the shallow zones to try and kill Mac Jones’ preferred options underneath on quick throws. The problem was that Kyle Shanahan quickly adjusted his play calls and Jones executed that adjustment well. All of a sudden, the short-yardage merchant was targeting the intermediate-to-deep portion of the field. His average depth of target in the first half was 11.0 and Bowles and the defense struggled to keep up, both figuratively and literally as they struggled to adjust the depth of their drops.

Eventually the Bucs did adjust, with well-timed blitzes and intricate disguises that led to six sacks and two interceptions. But they need to find a way to string that together for an entire four quarters.

K Chase McLaughlin

The ups and downs of McLaughin hit a trough in this game. After starting the season with some uncharacteristic misses and a block, Money McLaughlin had settled in over the past three games back to his automatic ways. But in a crucial situation in the 4th quarter, he missed a key 49-yard attempt that would have put the Bucs up 30-19. The kick was pushed just wide right and gave the ball back to San Francisco with additional life. The miss gave the ball back to the 49ers and kept the game a one-score, high blood pressure inducing affair.

Bucs Kicker Chase McLaughlin – Photo by: USA Today

McLaughlin found redemption later in the game with the game-sealing kick with less than two minutes left in the game, but the need to wait that long was unnecessary if McLaughlin had hit his first try. As it was, he finished the game 1-2 on field goal tries while going 3-3 on extra points.

NT Vita Vea

Vea was instrumental in a good Bucs pass rush all day including a half-sack of his own. He was also a big part of holding Christian McCaffrey to a sub-4.0 yards per carry mark. But after the defense held fallowing McLaughlin’s miss by forcing a three-and-out Vea couldn’t stop himself from running into 49ers punter Thomas Morestead. Kudos to Vea for trying to make a play, but the downside of trying to get the block is so monumental it probably wasn’t worth it. The result was a 15-yard penalty for running into the kicker and giving the ball back to San Francisco.

Bucs DT Vita Vea and 49ers RB Christian McCaffrey – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Injury Gods

They either haven’t seen how special this team could be as they keep spamming lower body injuries time after time after time. OR they do know how special this team is and they are trying to highlight it by forcing them to continue to perform at a high level despite losing player after player after player. I’m not sure which it is, but I don’t like it and neither should you.