The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have finally come back down to earth.

Gone is the fun that was present at the start of the season. Gone is the above .500 record. Gone is first place in the NFC South.

This may sound a little harsh, but that loss against a bad Falcons team doesn't just hurt Tampa's chances at the playoffs, it creates some serious questions about members of this franchise that were buried early in the season but starting to come out again.

That was about as messy as a game could be, but it was probably exactly what Todd Bowles wanted outside of the final score.

The defense played bend but don't break (perhaps to a ridiculous level with fumbles in the end zone happening at the highest rate in recent memory), and the offense played slow in an effort to control the clock.

If only that mattered.

At the end of the day, the Bucs let the Falcons outscore them, and that might be the most embarrassing thing to happen to this team all season.

Atlanta has generally been inept at moving the football for most of the year, especially with another offensive scheme that doesn't want to use weapons on the outside in favor of a 2000s-inspired run-first attack, and the fact that they lived in the red zone today is indicative of a bad but lucky day from Tampa's defense.

As for the Bucs, in the old days, even with a bad defense, the Bucs would simply win a boat race like this with a passing attack that scores quickly. Chewing the clock was an afterthought, but it came due to consistent first downs and play calls that lived in the modern era of football.

That identity has died under Bowles.

Bowles doesn't want anything fancy. In fact, it doesn't even seem like he wants the team to score unless it comes from a methodical, 15-play drive that bleeds ten minutes off the clock.

Newsflash: that is the whole reason why the offense with Tom Brady last year was one of the most disappointing in NFL history.

Bowles just doesn't learn, and the Buccaneers are going to continue dropping games like this one with him at the helm.

The season isn't over yet, but one has to wonder what the ceiling is for this roster with Todd Bowles as the head coach. Sadly, it doesn't look very high.

Buccaneers: ESPN analyst has extremely strong words for Todd Bowles

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are adjusting to new life under Todd Bowles after he took over for Bruce Arians back in March. While it's not too much of an adjustment for the players, fans are left wondering how the team will perform under its new leader. Even if there is plenty of familiarity with Bowles […]