When the Bucs’ 2026 schedule was released back in May, it felt like a three-game homestand against the Browns, Vikings and Packers from Weeks 2-4 could be a nice launching point for the season. Take two of those three games and you’re at least 2-2 through four weeks. Find a way to win the opener in Cincinnati? You’re 3-1.

How it played out was much different.

Tampa Bay lost that opener in Cincinnati. Okay, fine.

Todd Bowles and Co. still had three straight games at Raymond James Stadium to look forward to.

But now, three weeks later, that three-game stretch of home games can’t be looked at as anything other than a disaster.

The Bucs absolutely blew it. What once looked like a run of home games that could set them up for success going forward into the rest of the season became a stretch that saw this team dig a hole that has effectively ended the season before it ever really began.

Bucs RT Luke Goedeke – Photo by: IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Losses to the Browns, Vikings and Packers dropped the Bucs to 0-4. That’s bad enough, of course. Teams that start 0-4 don’t just recover and make a run to the playoffs. But it’s about more than just being 0-4. It’s about three home losses making the path back that much more difficult considering of the remaining 13 games, seven come on the road.

Those seven? Primetime at Dallas (2-2), at Carolina (2-2), primetime at Chicago (3-1), at Detroit (2-2), at Baltimore (3-1), at Atlanta (1-2) and at New Orleans (1-2). The Bucs probably have to go 5-2 in these remaining games away from home to even give themselves a chance to recover from the hole they’ve fallen face first into.

This team hasn’t done anything in these first four weeks to indicate that a 5-2 run away from home is even sort of on the table. But entertain the idea for a minute.

Lock that 5-2 record in and you’re looking at 5-6. Of the six remaining home games, Tampa Bay would have to go 4-2 to safely be in contention near the top of the NFC South at 9-8. The problem? Going 4-2 at home the rest of the way would feel like a miracle.

It’s not the schedule, which features the Steelers (2-2), Falcons (1-2), Panthers (2-2) in primetime, Chargers (0-4), Saints (1-2) and Rams (2-2). For a competent team — and a team with any semblance of a home-field advantage — 4-2 would feel manageable.

But the Bucs aren’t a competent team. And their “home-field advantage” just doesn’t exist.

The Bucs’ Lack Of Home-Field Advantage Is Disheartening

This 0-3 start to the 2026 home slate has the team on a collision course with its first losing record at Raymond James Stadium since 2019, when it finished 2-6 in front of the home fans in Tampa.

Now, it’s not like the Bucs have been dominant at home in recent years or even historically.

Disappointed Bucs fans – Photo by: IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

After going 5-3 at home during the 2020 regular season and 7-1 at Ray Jay the following year, they went 4-4 in 2022, 4-4 in 2023, 5-4 in 2024 and 4-4 in 2025. Even before that 2-6 home record in 2019, Tampa Bay was 4-4 at home in 2018, 2017 and 2016. The 3-5 mark in 2015 was just a hair under .500, too.

Breaking even at or around .500 at home really isn’t anything to write home about as it is. But even getting to that point in 2026 barely feels like it’s on the table after going 0-3 on this three-game homestand.

It’s not just the losing at home, either. That’s bad enough, obviously. But it’s also the fact that Todd Bowles and this Bucs team have beaten their fans down bad enough where many aren’t even bothering to show up on Sundays anymore. Instead, opposing fans have swarmed to Raymond James Stadium and taken over.

Browns fans did it to a degree in Week 2. Vikings fans took it up a notch in Week 3. And the loud “Go, Pack, Go!” chants from the Packers fans in Week 4 made it even worse in Week 4.

Packers fan at Raymond James Stadium – Photo by: IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Organizations in the Tampa Bay Area and throughout Florida are always going to deal with opposing fans in their stadiums because of how transplant-heavy the population is. But it’s been at a different level in these last three weeks for the Bucs. Vibes at Ray Jay hit a low during this stretch, and it’ll be hard to recover from that the rest of the way.

It won’t get any better in Week 6 when the Steelers are in town and those yellow Terrible Towels will be waving all throughout the stadium. That’ll be yet another indictment on Bowles and his team, and it’s not like they’re going to be given much of a chance to win that game. Instead, they very well could fall to 0-6 on that day with an 0-4 mark at home.

Oh, and from there?

Bucs Are Setting Themselves Up For Empty Seats Down The Stretch

Bucs fans haven’t exactly been coming out to Raymond James Stadium in droves over the last three weeks. A looming primetime loss to the Cowboys this Thursday certainly won’t inspire any more to show up in Week 6 to watch their 0-5 team play host to the Steelers.

After that? Loss after loss and a season that is dead in the water is going to lead to a TON of empty seats at Raymond James Stadium. After all, the only reason the stadium hasn’t already begun to look empty in recent weeks is because visiting fans have done their part to fill it up.

Bucs vs. Vikings crowd at kickoff at Raymond James Stadium – Photo by: Scott Reynolds/PR

Steelers fans promise to do the same in Week 6, but the rest of the teams on the Bucs’ home schedule don’t exactly have the largest fan bases. They’ll have their share of fans who come out to see their teams play while they’re in Tampa, but the fan bases of the Vikings, Packers and Steelers are different. Their reach extends throughout the country. The same won’t necessarily be said for the Falcons, Panthers, Chargers, Saints or Rams.

So, where will that leave the vibes at Raymond James Stadium? Even worse than they are now. There’ll be plenty of empty red seats throughout for this Buccaneer team down the stretch.

If the Glazers somehow haven’t already reached the conclusion themselves after this 0-4 start, sparse crowds will send them a clear message about how their fans feel about Todd Bowles and the direction of this team.

What a disaster.