There are four games left in the 2022 NFL regular season, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are still searching for their identity.
After Sunday’s 35-7 blowout loss to the San Francisco 49ers, one thing they’re not right now is a good football team.
“We have to decide what team we want to be,” Bowles said after the game. “We can’t be one set of Bucs and another set of Bucs. It’s got to mean something. We’ve got a one-game lead – with four games to go. Either we want it or we don’t. You can’t care more than everybody else. As a coach you don’t go on the field. But we got out-coached, so we’re not excused from this at all. We got out-played as well. So as a team, as a group, we have to buckle down and we have decide what our fate is in the next couple of weeks.”
The fact that the Bucs are about to head into Week 15, and their head coach is still saying things like this, is a red flag about the size of the one that towers over One Buc Place.
Star wide receiver Mike Evans, who had a 68-yard touchdown on the Bucs’ first offensive possession called back for holding, echoed Bowles’ sentiments, but placed the lion’s share of the blame on himself and his teammates (via Fox Sports’ Greg Auman):
Video: Mike Evans says Todd Bowles is right, that the Bucs must decide what kind of team they are and stop the inconsistent up-and-down play. pic.twitter.com/IIpGZgZmHs
— Greg Auman (@gregauman) December 12, 2022
There’s not much the Bucs have done well so far this season.
They’re among the worst teams in the league when it comes to scoring points or running the ball effectively, they continue to beat themselves with penalties and other self-inflicted errors, they can’t create big plays on defense, and plenty of coaching decisions have been questionable at best.
As they look to salvage a division title in a dismal NFC South, and hope to find some magic once they get into the postseason, the Bucs still have no clue who they are.
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