Tony Dungy said it best: “If you’re not getting better, you’re getting worse.”
At 0-3, the Buccaneers are showing exactly what happens when a franchise becomes comfortable with mediocrity.
Tampa has accepted living around .500, celebrating nine wins, and treating an NFC South title as the ultimate goal. The result is a team with very little margin for error and even less star power to overcome its mistakes.
The Bucs are content with a coach who has never won more than 10 games in 8 seasons as a head coach. Todd Bowles isn’t a good head coach, and he hasn’t been much better as a defensive coordinator as of late. His defense has struggled to adjust, and the pass defense has ranked in the bottom half of the league for multiple seasons.
They’re also content with a quarterback who has played poorly over his last 13 games. Baker Mayfield is a middle-of-the-road quarterback who has missed deep throws, held the ball too long, taken unnecessary sacks, and failed to consistently play at the level of his contract.
The offensive line was good two years ago under a different system and a different coordinator. The Bucs assumed that success would carry over. It hasn’t. Another area where we've sat content, instead of looking to strengthen.
They’ve also stayed committed to defensive linemen they held onto too long, including Joe Tryon-Shoyinka and Logan Hall. Tampa’s edge room remains near the back of the league.
Jason Licht is good at finding depth, but this roster lacks star power. Mike Evans was drafted 13 years ago. Vita Vea was drafted nine years ago. Tristan Wirfs was drafted six years ago. Antoine Winfield Jr. hasn’t consistently played at his best in three years. Emeka Egbuka looks like a good No. 2 receiver, but where is the next player who changes the franchise’s trajectory?
The Bucs have become too comfortable signing average players to top-of-the-market contracts and calling it roster building. That is roster maintenance, not championship construction.
And ultimately, the responsibility belongs to the Glazers. I watched the "Raise the Flag" documentary and saw their competitiveness. But I haven’t seen that same urgency reflected in their decisions for quite some time. The television money will continue regardless of the record, and that comfort appears to have lowered the standard.
If the goal is simply nine wins and another NFC South title, the organization is leaving no room for failure. Raise the bar so this team can still succeed when it falls short.
Being content with mediocrity is the death knell of any franchise.
The Bucs are 0-3, with 11 losses in their last 14 games. That is not just bad luck. It is the consequence of accepting “good enough.”
Raise your bar, Glazers. This team is finding ways to go under it.
I think there is talent on this team that a new staff will be able to get more out of. NFL things can change faster than any other sport.
This is not a tear it down and rebuild team IMO. Bowels should have been given his walking papers years ago and at least it will likely finally happen.
Lets just pray they go with a younger forward thinking HC and not a retreat (Tomlin)
a new head coach can help a lot - look at Kubiak with Raiders, Brady with Buffao, Monken with Cleveland, Coen with Jaguars, Harbauigh with Giants, MacDonald with Seattle
but the hope is they make the right choice and go offense coordinator
there are 6 teams remaining undefeated - KC, MIN, BUF, SF, PHI, LV. Their head coaches are all offensive minded.
You then have another 9 teams that are 2-1. JAX, PIT, DET, SEA, BAL, DEN, NYG, CIN, and CLE. Six of those are offensive minded.
now it's a small sample size of just 3 weeks but just to put in perspective.
then if you look at the last 7 Super Bowl match-ups, only last year featured defensive minded coaches in Mac and Vrabel. The six previous all head offensive minded guys in both conferences.
Too early to say who the hot Offensive minded head coach candidate will be next year but one would imagine the Bucs, Jets, maybe even Dolphins (just hired a guy this year) will be hot picks with top overall picks and likely openings.
the Jets look like the best opportunity with 3 picks maybe in the top 10 as it stands today.
Yep being content with mediocrity since Brady left was inexcusable. They had an opportunity to carry on a true winning culture and even when gifted another few opportunities to make the playoffs with a crap division. Really felt like opportunity like what Seattle got last year was there for us too. With some better coaching and a little better management of rosters we'd been there I think. Glazers had a bigger opportunity to make money than they did but I guess what they did was lazy easy money. Great job guys super impressive!
Licht sat on his hands and thought last year's roster was good enough but all three NFCS teams zoomed passed the Bucs. Combined with the Bucs collapse Licht should have known that he needed to go all out to load this roster with talent.
NFL things can change faster than any other sport.
I totally agree. Look at Coen with the Jags. Kubiak with the Raiders. And other examples. Coaches play a bigger role in football than any other sport.
