QUESTION: Barring an unexpected run in the playoffs (if we even get there), Todd Bowles can’t survive this, right? What hope is there for next year except mock drafts by early October?

ANSWER: Unless the Bucs lose out or don’t win the division by going 1-2 down the stretch, I do think there’s a good chance Todd Bowles returns for another year in Tampa Bay. Unless the Bucs make the playoffs, he’ll start the 2023 season on the proverbial hot seat and only be given one more season to right the ship.

Bucs OC Byron Leftwich and HC Todd Bowles – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

It’s important to remember that Bowles is coaching with Bruce Arians’ coaching staff. Bowles was promoted on March 30 when Arians abruptly retired and didn’t have time to assemble his own staff. Almost all quality NFL coaches are already on a staff by February.

I don’t see any way offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich survives this disastrous season on offense. Tampa Bay is averaging 17.6 points per game, which ranks 28th in the league. He likely won’t be the only offensive coach that gets fired, and I wouldn’t be shocked if Bowles makes a change at special teams coordinator, too. Especially after Sunday’s botched fake punt in which somehow upback Giovani Bernard either didn’t know that the fake was called in the third quarter or didn’t know the snap count.

The hope next year might come from a much improved offense if Bowles makes the right hire, in addition to better play from the team’s veterans. Many of the team’s best and highest-paid players have had sub-par years, as I detailed in last Friday’s SR’s Fab 5 column. There will be another draft class that can add talent to this team, plus another round of free agency where hopefully Jason Licht and his staff can pick up a few impact players. This year’s group of free agents has underwhelmed.

And then there’s the fact that the Bucs will still be playing in the NFC South, which might be the worst division in football. Things look bleak for all three of the team’s division foes in 2023 and the NFC South could be there for the taking again. Finding the right quarterback and the right offensive coordinator will be key for Bowles and the Bucs next year.

QUESTION: If Todd Bowles is back next year, he is probably on a short leash. Why would Todd Monken (SR’s choice) leave the offensive coordinator gig at the University of Georgia? After the Bengals game, it’s hard to imagine someone in his position would gamble coaching for Bowles for possibly one season?

ANSWER: Fair point, and there is no guarantee that Georgia offensive coordinator Todd Monken, who is my personal favorite for the Bucs offensive coordinator job, would want to come back to Tampa Bay. Monken is the highest-paid assistant coach in college football, making $2.01 million per season. So, the Glazers would have to pony up at least that much for him to want to jump back into the NFL.

Monken has helped the Bulldogs go 35-3 since arriving at Georgia, including a national championship last year. And Georgia is back in the college football playoff with a chance to defend its title this year. Monken was part of Dirk Koetter’s staff, and served as Tampa Bay’s receivers coach in 2016-17 and offensive coordinator in 2018. He was fired after the 2018 season and surfaced at Georgia after a one-year stint as the Browns offensive coordinator in 2019.

What I like about Monken is the fact that he has NFL experience and NFL aspirations. Getting back in the NFL and turning around the Bucs offense could put him on the radar for an NFL head coaching job. The appeal to Monken could actually be coming to Tampa Bay where Bowles could be on the hot seat. Koetter was Lovie Smith’s offensive coordinator in 2015 before getting promoted to replace him in 2016 after Smith was fired.

What else I like about Monken is that he has worked for a defensive-minded head coach in Kirby Smart and has run a complementary style of offense. It’s a pass-first approach that will fit the pass-friendly NFL style of play, but Monken has found a way to still run the football at Georgia to provide balance. Monken typically favors throwing the ball on first down and then using runs on second and/or third downs – unlike Byron Leftwich.

QUESTION: Where’s Jason Licht? Why haven’t we heard from him besides his tweet following the Saints sweep?

Bucs GM Jason Licht – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

ANSWER: Jason Licht, like most NFL general managers, isn’t very visible or vocal during the regular season. Licht rarely does interviews in-season, except for a brief one regularly on the Buccaneers Radio Network prior to kickoff on game days.

It’s common practice for most general managers to let their head coaches be the public voice of the team during the season. Licht isn’t hiding from the media or trying to evade criticism. He stayed out of the spotlight during the last two regular seasons when the Bucs won the Super Bowl in 2020 and went 13-4 last year.

We’ll hear from Licht plenty this offseason when general managers do most of the heavy lifting when it comes to free agency the draft. Licht will also conduct a post-season press conference whenever the Bucs’ 2022 season ends. That will likely be the next time we hear from him outside of a Twitter post here or there.

QUESTION: I would seriously fire Todd Bowles and pull a Rich Bisaccia with Harold Goodwin, making him interim Bucs head coach the rest of the season.

ANSWER: That’s not going to solve anything and it’s not going to have a positive effect on the team with just three games left. Remember that Todd Bowles also serves as the team’s defensive play-caller, and the Bucs defense hasn’t really been the problem this year. Who is going to call the defense? Kacy Rodgers or Larry Foote? It’s been the woeful offense that rarely scores more than 17 points per game that’s the problem in Tampa Bay – not necessarily the defense.

I like Harold Goodwin personally, but it’s too late in the season to make such a move, and I don’t think Bowles deserves to be fired right now. I think he deserves a year to have his own coaches on the staff, especially on the offensive side of the ball where the offensive talent over the last couple of years has masked some of the deficiencies on the staff.

QUESTION: Call me crazy but I still have a lot of hope in this team. If they can start to get healthy these next three weeks (Tristan Wirfs, Antoine Winfield Jr., Vita Vea, Jamel Dean, and maybe Ryan Jensen?), why can’t this team go on a run? The talent is there and they’ve shown flashes all year.

Bucs RT Tristan Wirfs and C Ryan Jensen – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

ANSWER: I don’t see Ryan Jensen returning to action this year. There are just three games left in the regular season and he hasn’t even returned to practice. I think the safe approach is to let Jensen’s injured knee heal during the offseason and get ready to return for OTAs in May.

But the Bucs should get Tristan Wirfs back soon, and hopefully Jamel Dean too. Antoine Winfield Jr. returned to action and played about half the game on Sunday with a gimpy ankle. Hopefully he can finish the game on Sunday at Arizona.

Is there a lot of hope for a late-season surge for the Bucs? The quarterbacks the Bucs will be facing down the stretch aren’t exactly world-beaters in Arizona’s Trace McSorley, Carolina’s Sam Darnold and Atlanta rookie Desmond Ridder. Yet, the Bucs have already lost this season to the combination of rookie Kenny Pickett and backup Mitch Trubisky in Pittsburgh, P.J. Walker in Carolina and of course rookie Brock Purdy in San Francisco, so anything goes.

The 4-10 Cardinals, who lost to Denver on Sunday, are up next, and should be beatable without starting QB Kyler Murray and backup Colt McCoy, who suffered a concussion in the loss to the Broncos. Tampa Bay still has a one-game lead in the division despite the 34-23 loss to Cincinnati and will need to win in Arizona to at least maintain that lead. Then, it all comes down to the home game against Carolina and a road trip to Atlanta to end the year and decide the NFC South champion.

QUESTION: Why is it our QB can turn the ball over four times in the second half and can still finish the game? I don’t care if it’s Tom Brady or not. Any other QB would be put on the bench. Do you feel like our coach is afraid to bench him?

ANSWER: The Bucs don’t have just any ol’ player under center. They have Tom Brady, the greatest quarterback of all time. He certainly gets the benefit of the doubt, especially when he’s done so well at avoiding turnovers this season outside of the last two games.

Bucs QB Tom Brady – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

“Just unforced errors. Two fumbles, two interceptions – can’t win football games like that,” Brady said after the game. “The two fumbles were my fault – it was uncharacteristic. One of the interceptions was just a terrible throw, and the other one, I got hit, the guy was laying on the ground and the ball landed in his arms.”

If a quarterback is going to be benched, the expectation is that the backup will come in and do a better job. I don’t think Blaine Gabbert would’ve done a better job in the fourth quarter, and neither did Todd Bowles, which is why he didn’t pull Brady. Even when the game was out of reach, the Bucs at least scored a meaningless touchdown with Brady connecting with Russell Gage again.

Perhaps the offense can build off of those snaps at the end of the game – even if they came in garbage time. Lord knows the Bucs need to practice getting in the end zone as much as possible.

QUESTION: Do you think the Bucs will bring back Jon Robinson to work in the front office next year?

ANSWER: It’s possible. I don’t know if general manager Jason Licht has room on his personnel staff right now to bring Jon Robinson aboard. John Spytek is currently Licht’s right-hand man as the team’s vice president of player personnel.

Spytek has interviewed for a couple of general manager positions and this could be the offseason where he finally gets the chance to lead a team. He’s a great talent evaluator and has earned that right. If Spytek leaves, I could see Licht tab his old friend to replace him, but I think that’s the only circumstance where Robinson comes back to Tampa Bay right now.

QUESTION: At this point in the season, what is our culture? What are we good at?

ANSWER: That’s a good question. The Bucs have struggled to put it all together and play four good quarters of football – on either side of the ball. The defense has played better than the offense this year for the most part, and ranks seventh in the league in total defense (317.4 yards per game) and is tied for 10th in the league in points allowed per game (20.6 avg.). So, the identity of this team is that it’s a defensive team and has taken on the identity of its head coach, Todd Bowles, who calls the plays on defense.

Bucs QB Tom Brady and OC Byron Leftwich – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

The offense has not found its footing all season. Offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich has been exposed as a fraud as a play-caller. The Bucs put up 30 points per game over the last couple of years by simply out-talenting other teams. But this year, a lot of that talent is gone (future Hall of Fame tight end Rob Gronkowski, Pro Bowl left guard Ali Marpet, receiver Antonio Brown) or injured (Pro Bowl center Ryan Jensen and All-Pro right tackle Tristan Wirfs). So, it’s forced Leftwich to get creative and use scheme to help the Bucs score points instead. That hasn’t happened and the offense is scoring nearly two touchdowns less per game as a result.

In the offseason, Bowles sensed the offense would have to have change due to the retirements of Brown’s depature and the retirement of Marpet and Gronkowski, but it hasn’t. Leftwich has continued to just dial up some of the same plays from the Bruce Arians playbook, expecting the same result in years past and that hasn’t worked without the abundance of talent.

The Tampa Bay offense did look better and more creative in the first half of the loss to the Bengals, as the Bucs took an early 17-0 lead. But the offense just couldn’t sustain that level of success in the second half. That’s kind of been the story this season on offense. There are flashes of good play – a nice drive here or there – and glimpses of hope, but nothing sustainable over an entire game or the entire season in Tampa Bay.