The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and their fans have a flair for the dramatic, but declaring the season over after the embarrassing 48-10 debacle against the Bears Sunday night? One has to wonder if the Bucs are close to being relevant, unlucky, poorly run, or all of the above.
It’s no secret how much the Bucs as a franchise have been a disaster since firing their Super Bowl-winning coach Jon Gruden in 2008. Since Gruden, the franchise has posted a 52-96 record, which is a paltry 35 percent winning percentage through 148 games, including the four this season. The team has had four head coaches and continuous turnaround with Raheem Morris, Greg Schiano, Lovie Smith, and now Dirk Koetter.
Of the former head coaches since Gruden, only Morris is currently with an NFL team, the Atlanta Falcons, as assistant head coach and wide receivers coach. Schiano and Smith are in the NCAA coaching Ohio State and Illinois respectively. Imagine doing so badly that no pro team wants you.
A revolving door of bad drafts from GMs Mark Dominik and Jason Licht and systemic changes at the coaching level have created a tradition of losing again and brought back the “yucks.”
This year was supposed to be the start of something special. The Bucs were scoring at will, no longer having to play catch up all the time as in previous years. Career backup QB-turned spot starter Ryan Fitzpatrick was showing the explosiveness first-hand from offensive coordinator Todd Monken’s play-calling, taking those duties away from Koetter. Until the Pittsburgh game, it looked like Fitzmagic would revive his career like Kurt Warner and Rich Gannon before him.
Despite looking more human against the Steelers, he still threw for an excess of 400 yards and three touchdowns, well above any expectations and the best start for a QB in NFL history. Tom Brady, John Elway and Dan Marino have never done what Fitz has done to start the season with over 1,200 yards passing and 11 touchdowns over the first three games.
As the Bears were pouring on the scoring into the half, the team looked lost again and the familiar deer-in-the-headlights look that fans and players have seen for so many years has reared its ugly head. What we thought was change just crashed down faster than any meteor.
We can’t overlook the one-dimensional nature of the offense. We can’t overlook how the defense has become a liability to the team. We can’t overlook the missed opportunity in the first couple rounds to bolster a secondary in dire need of talent. Same old story: missed opportunities, lack of quality adjustments, and shame. Same s**t, different day.
What can we do to fix all of this? The Bucs have first rounders at many key offensive positions—Mike Evans as the leading wide receiver; a hulking monster of a tight end OJ Howard; and a blue chipper of a franchise QB with a knack for winning, Jameis Winston. The team also has a core of talent on the defense with tackle Gerald McCoy and linebackers Lavonte Davis and Kwon Alexander.
It’s hard to instill a culture of winning when most of the veterans on the team have become accustomed to losing, even when the team brings in guys who have won Super Bowls with their former teams like Jason Pierre-Paul and Vinny Curry. Where does it start? Do we start from scratch again or do we use what we have and hope the next person finally gets it right?
Since taking over football operations, Joel Glazer is 0-2 in selecting GMs. The fact the Glazer family seems to be more committed to making the Manchester United soccer franchise better than their football team in the States is drawing the ire of some in the Bucs community.
It also doesn’t help that during Morris’ tenure with the team the Glazers showed Schiano and Smith the door after their second years with the franchise. Koetter is in his third year, and it doesn’t look like the problems plaguing his first two years with the team have been solved by bringing his former Falcons head coach Mike Smith to run the defense. It’s inexcusable that Smith is still DC after not showing any real improvement despite bringing in outside help.
The offense is far from stable enough to be a force to lean on, and the defense has been a constant liability. It might be time to cut losses—Licht and Koetter. As much as I hate to hit the reset button again, we’re finding out Koetter is a better coordinator than head coach, and the game has long passed Smith.
It might be time for the Bucs to pull a Tampa Bay Rays, rebuild the core, cut overvalued contracts, trade for value in the draft, front office, and coaching, and start fresh again. Many Bucs fans will hate it, but at this point, what is there left to do? They can be 4-12 with high priced talent that’s already hit the ceiling or let a new core grow together and hope they improve enough to overcome the slump.
