Bucs have been telling everyone who they are for weeks, now, and their record finally reflects the message
The Bucs are a bad team, and now, they’ll officially finish the 2025 season with a losing record.
If you’ve been following the Tampa Bay Buccaneers over the last couple of months, then you’ve noticed a trend that’s developed in postgame pressers.
Todd Bowles and Baker Mayfield have echoed the same messages during the Bucs’ 1-7 stretch, week after week. It’s gotten to the point where you can basically predict what they will say, and it’s become more stale than bread left out of the packaging overnight.
One of the messages has been that of execution. Simply put, the Bucs need to execute better, and Mayfield has driven that home non-stop. He once again leaned on it after Week 17’s loss to the Miami Dolphins, and while he’s right, it’s pretty clear the Bucs can’t put their money where their mouth is when it comes to this topic.
Bucs do need to execute better, but it’s clear they’re just a bad team
It’s time to call a spade a spade: The Bucs are a bad team, and they won’t be able to execute better because they can’t.
Good teams don’t lose seven of eight games, but most importantly, good teams don’t lose to three squads that were eliminated from playoff contention before kickoff of those respective games. The New Orleans Saints, Atlanta Falcons, and Dolphins were out of the picture, but that didn’t stop the Bucs from losing.
The Bucs can talk about executing better all they want – it’s clear their actions hold a whole different weight, though.
“It’s truly about executing your job to the best of your ability each play,” Mayfield told reporters after the loss to the Dolphins. “And that’s plain and simple… It’s about executing, beating the guy across from you, and finding a way to win.
“It’s about executing, and the fact that we’re still in it, that should give us the positivity we need to rebound from this. Hit the reset button… it’s about us executing.”
The Bucs are bad in all three phases of the game
Mayfield was responsible for three turnovers. Two were interceptions, and the other was a strip-sack allowed by rookie left tackle Ben Chukwuma. The defense, once again, gave up multiple explosive plays (including a 63-yard catch-and-run touchdown) and didn’t force any takeaways. Lastly, the Bucs watched their third kick of the year get blocked when Chase McLaughlin attempted a 55-yarder.
The Bucs have even given up on covering kickoffs. They literally have McLaughlin booting the ball out of the end zone to take the touchback. Ironically enough, they couldn’t even get that completely right on Sunday, as McLaughlin “misfired,” according to Bowles, which led to a 47-yard kick return by Malik Washington.
And of course, the Dolphins got points thanks to the good field position. Those points ended up being Riley Patterson’s field goal, which made it a two-possession game, which the Bucs couldn’t overcome.
There is failure everywhere you look, and it’s hard to see anything but more of it coming down the pipe on Saturday against the Panthers.
“I think we have to erase that from our heads, because we have to get ourselves together before we worry about anybody else (whether it’s) Carolina or anybody else,” Bowles told reporters. “We [are] just shooting ourselves in the foot at every chance [and] that starts with me.
“If we play and do the things we did today, next week, we won’t be going anywhere.”
Will the Bucs actually beat Carolina?
It’s basically impossible to have faith in the Bucs when it’s all said and done. And no, I don’t think they will beat the Panthers on Saturday.
Can they? Sure, but will they is a whole different animal. The Panthers are a middling team, at best, but they believe in what they’re doing and you can see the fight on the field. We didn’t see that with the Bucs against the Dolphins, even if both Bowles and Mayfield said they felt like the energy was up to par heading into the game and throughout.
The Bucs have one last shot to show everyone they’re at least able to beat the mid-tier teams and if they blow it, well, they’re going to have a very long offseason to think about the disastrous end that honestly, should’ve never happened the way it has.
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