The Buccaneers Need to Fire Todd Bowles

The Buccaneers Need to Fire Todd Bowles

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are 0-2 to open the 2026 season, and this isn’t a blip, it’s a continuation of a scary trend. Counting the collapse at the end of last season, Tampa Bay has lost nine of its last 11 games. That kind of freefall doesn’t happen by accident. It happens when a locker room stops believing in its coach.

The losses themselves tell the story. Tampa Bay’s Week 1 loss to the Bengals was a close road defeat against a good team, forgivable on its own. But Week 2 was inexplicable: the Browns, who looked like the worst team in the league in Week 1, came into Raymond James Stadium and walked out with a win. Losing at home to a team that bad isn’t a talent problem. It’s a coaching problem, and it’s part of a pattern of “inexplicable losses” that has defined the Bowles era.

Entering Week 3, Bowles carries an overall record of 35-35 with the Buccaneers, and a 1-3 mark in the postseason. That’s not the résumé of a coach who elevates a roster, it’s the résumé of a coach treading water. The warning signs aren’t just external with this Buccaneers team. Even fans are done waiting: Buccaneers fans want Bowles fired after the 0-2 start and respectfully, Bowles’ seat is tied directly to results over the next stretch of games, with his Week 5 primetime matchup against Dallas looming as a potential breaking point.

Tampa Bay has talent, a playoff-caliber roster that has underachieved for a full calendar year now. At some point, continuity stops being a virtue and starts being an excuse. If the Buccaneers can’t get this turned around, this season should result in the last that Bowles is the Buccaneers head coach.