The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have had a lot of issues on offense in 2022. So many, in fact, it's hard to pinpoint the exact cause.

They've remained around the middle of the pack in red zone touchdown percentage and the same can be said for their third down efficiency, as well. When you add in frustrating moments of poor execution, it's fair to say this is a far cry from the unit we've become accustomed to over the previous two seasons.

The offense is in search of an identity. And consistency, even.

The Buccaneers had a chance to do take steps in both areas today, as the Pittsburgh Steelers' defense played without a slew of starters, mainly in the secondary.

However, instead of taking advantage of the opportunity that was in front of them, the Buccaneers laid an egg, dropping an extremely winnable game on the road -one they were 10-point favorites in- by a score of 20-18.

Normally, in a defensive battle like this one, you'd point to the uncontrollable events that made an offense so frustrating to watch. But in Tampa Bay's case, they had plenty of opportunities to grab the lead and take control of the game.

They made it to the red zone four times, but only scored a touchdown during one of those trips. They had plenty of third down opportunities, some of them being third and short situations, but they only converted four out of their fourteen third downs.

Situational football is important, and it's clear the Buccaneers didn't get that specific memo today.

"We gotta find a way to score in the red zone," Todd Bowles said. "More importantly, we have to find a way to be better at short yardage [situations]."

If the Buccaneers simply converted on a few more of those third downs, or scored a touchdown on one or two more of their red zone trips, the game would've been done and dusted sooner rather than later.

In fact, the Buccaneers would comfortably have another win in the bag.

It wouldn't have been a pretty win, but the win would've been much better than flying back home with a sour tasting loss hovering in the mouths of everyone who contributed heavily today.

But instead, they they faltered in the important aspect of situational football, and it costed this team dearly today.

This Buccaneers team should still be the overwhelming favorite to win the NFC South, regardless of the early season struggles this offense is having right now.

But if they can't start cleaning up their mistakes, then they'll really start to see some impact on the record column. Luckily for Tampa Bay, that won't be too bad, as the division and the NFC conference as a whole isn't looking all that hot right now.

Still though, the mistakes have to be cleaned up, and they need to be cleaned up as soon as possible. Because this team is finding an identity, but it's one of an underwhelming offense that is more a detriment than it is a help.

And that's an identity this team -nor any team- can afford to live with in 2022.

Featured image via Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports