The Tampa Bay Buccaneers should've came into tonight's game against the Kansas City Chiefs with a lot of confidence. Specifically due to their defense, which seemingly had a very enticing matchup against the Chiefs' revamped skill group.

Kansas City had gotten off to a really good start with their new personnel, looking like the same high-flying and scoreboard-abusing machine its been over the last four seasons. The only difference was the absence of Tyreek Hill, who's now infamously starring in a leading role for the Miami Dolphins.

Tampa Bay on the other hand, was flying high defensively, themselves. They had only allowed a mere 27 points through three games and the pieces looked to be clicking reminiscent to their form during the 2020 season.

These two factors were going to clash head-on and only one would emerge victorious.

But unfortunately for the Buccaneers, their defense came out the battle as supreme losers. As we saw the events unfold tonight, we saw a Chiefs offense completely strangle the Buccaneers' defense by the neck, and not let go until the clock hit triple zeroes.

"We didn't play well, they [Kansas City] did a good job," Todd Bowles said after the game. "They kicked our butts all over the field."

One more angle of that ridiculousness. @PatrickMahomes | @Chiefs pic.twitter.com/iOhQFXLCyh

— NFL (@NFL) October 3, 2022

To put it simply, the Buccaneers' defense looked outmatched, and completely unfit for the challenge that was placed in front of them. Whether it was the short passing game, stopping the run, or even capping the explosiveness that the Chiefs' offense possesses, the Buccaneers could do nothing right defensively.

To make matters worse, Patrick Mahomes — who obviously needed a big performance to give the Chiefs the possibility of knocking off Tampa Bay — wasn't even the main hot story for the Chiefs offensively.

Sure, his 249 passing yards and three touchdowns were fantastic, but the bigger story was the depth of contribution on the Chiefs' offense. Travis Kelce finished with 92 big receiving yards and a touchdown, Clyde Edwards-Helaire had an abnormal, punishing game on the ground, rushing for over 90-yards and a touchdown.

"Our red zone defense was poor, our run defense was poor, our pass defense was poor, our third down efficiency was poor," Bowles said.

It doesn't stop there either.

Four Chiefs receivers had at least 30-yards receiving, while the Chiefs two leading rushers had at least 60-yards on the ground. Not only that, the Chiefs' 41-points were the most given up by Tampa Bay since the 2019 season when they gave up 40 to the Los Angeles Rams.

It was a total offensive annihilation by the Chiefs, one that wasn't expected whatsoever given the variables in place ahead of the matchup.

Granted this was the best offense the Buccaneers' defense had played so far, a bit of regression was somewhat expected due to the sheer difference in skill between the Chiefs' offense and the rest of the offense the Buccaneers had faced off against so far.

But this type of performance was not acceptable and certainly not up to the standards that the unit prides itself on meeting.

Does this performance warrant any future worry about the Buccaneers' defense? No, this defense is still too talented, has played together far too long, and has dominated too many explosive offenses to be written off due to one bad performance.

But this should serve as a bit of a wake-up call, and should remind the Buccaneers' defense that they still have some work to do in order to stand tall against the best offenses this league has to offer.

"We played a poor game and that falls on me," Bowles said.

"I'll take that."

Featured image via Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports