The rain has not quite gone away for the Bucs.

Rather, a dark, ominous cloud has hovered over the team as the losses have added up. Entering Week 17 against the Dolphins, Tampa Bay is preparing to face the storm head-on. They have no other option but to come away with a win to play in the postseason.

To emerge from the clouds and once again see the sunshine, all eyes are on how the offense executes and just how well the defense holds up. While the defense has struggled (putting it mildly), the offense has failed to meet the lofty expectations set before the season. With just two games left, including a regular-season finale rematching the Panthers, quarterback Baker Mayfield shared where his head is at on Tuesday afternoon.

Despite Losses Piling Up, Baker Mayfield Trusts In Himself And This Bucs Team

If the losses snowballed midseason in recent years, it feels like an avalanche of defeats have hit the Bucs.

At first, it was to the Patriots, Rams, and Bills. While frustrating to those wanting to see Tampa Bay hold their own facing top teams, one could at least understand the why for those losses. There was then remaining hope that the team would finish strong. A win over the Cardinals provided a slight break, but the losses returned in greater, more heartbreaking fashion.

Bucs QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: USA Today

First, it was losing to the Saints.

Then to the Falcons.

Then to the Panthers.

While much of the fanbase has all but lost hope in what this team can do, Baker Mayfield remains confident despite the circumstances.

“Our back is against the wall,” Mayfield said. “[We are] pretty comfortable there.”

This is nothing new to Mayfield nor head coach Todd Bowles. A key word for the Bucs in recent seasons has been resilience. When the chips were down, when just about everyone counted them out, they found a way to make the postseason in both 2023 and 2024. Asked about the mentality entering this Sunday, there remains a sense of control and knowing that the path has been here before and can climb out of the hole they are in.

“Listen, we would love to be — and I would love for us to be in a different spot than we’re in right now, don’t get me wrong,” Mayfield added. “We’ve been here before, and you can always rely on those experiences and take what you’ve learned and go from there, but I trust this group. It hasn’t been our best play by any means, I know that, we all know that, but we can still accomplish everything we want to.”

Bucs OC Josh Grizzard and QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

As shocking as it is, the NFC South is the only division in the NFL that remains up for grabs. Even after losing six out of seven games, there is still a chance of the Bucs punching their ticket. Once they are in, anything can happen. The belief from the outside may have been lost, but if this team truly comes together, it can prove people wrong.

It all comes back to how much they want it.

“It’s a long season,” Mayfield said. “Everything we want is still right in front of us despite everything that’s going on. We can win out, make the playoffs and still have our goals ahead of us. You have to endure the storm. It’s the ups-and-downs of it and that’s just how it goes.”

“Being More Efficient” Is At The Top Of Baker Mayfield’s Mind

What is frustrating about watching the Bucs’ offense this season is the feeling that this group has ample talent to operate at a high level. Injuries led to adjustments being made throughout the year but there are no excuses now operating with four starting-caliber wide receivers and a trio of talented of running backs. With all of the player personnel at the disposal of offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard, one felt like last week was the time to put points up.

Bucs OC Josh Grizzard – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Just about everyone has called out Grizzard’s blueprint of focusing on the run game, which was designed to control the clock and lead to a win. That did not come to pass, and not passing much at all with a predictable gameplan only made it harder to drive down the field.

Combining that with Baker Mayfield not playing at the same level he was earlier this season is far from what many expected. There is no questioning that Mayfield’s play has dipped, and he took time to acknowledge it.

“You can point to a number of things, but just going based on the last game, I thought I played decently, it’s just a matter of executing on the two-minute drive,” Mayfield said about why his performance has waned in the second half of the year. “If that interception doesn’t happen, [I] played a clean game. It’s just about putting it all together, and what I’ve talked about in weeks past where we haven’t had success, it’s redzones, it’s third downs, it’s me executing on some early downs, first and second, getting the easy completions that are there so we can stay ahead of the chains. For me, it’s just overall being more efficient and going from there.”

Since starting 5-1, a six-game stretch where Mayfield completed 66.2% of his passes for 1,539 yards with 12 touchdowns to just one interception, the last nine games have been much more inconsistent. His completion percentage has fallen to just 58.5% while throwing for 1,605 yards and 11 touchdowns to seven interceptions.

It is very easy for the morale within the locker room to suffer when the execution is not there and the goals are not being met. Mayfield has gone on record for saying there is no “finger pointing,” but there is a lot of back-and-forth dialogue amongst his teammates to make things right.

“You just hear the chatter in the locker room,” Mayfield said. “I can speak for the offense about our meetings and the accountability aspect of it. You call people out when they need to be, but then also just saying this is how important this is, where we’re at, laying it on the line for the guys that haven’t been in the position before and go from there.”

There cannot just be talk, no matter how nicely things are put.

Bucs HC Todd Bowles and QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Results are what get players paid and how coaches keep their jobs. The former will be evaluated this offseason in assessing the construction of the roster, but the latter will be decided on much sooner. No NFL head coach wants to be part of “Black Monday,” as that is when organizations decide whether or not the man who roams the sideline will be sent home with his bags packed.

For Todd Bowles, not winning this Sunday and ending a run of playoff appearances could mark the end of his time in Tampa Bay, but Baker Mayfield is riding with him until the end and no matter what.

“Yeah, and my narrative is not going to change,” Mayfield said of sticking behind Bowles. “Like I said, our goals are still right in front of us. Would we like to be in a different position? Yeah, we would have liked to close this thing out by now, but that’s not where we’re at, we have to win at Miami and then come back home. Our focus right now is doing everything we possibly can to find a way to win in Miami and see what happens from there.”