The Tampa Bay Buccaneers fought hard and competed blow for blow with the Detroit Lions in their 31-23 loss in the Divisional Round. Fans and pundits, however, are noticing that the Bucs may have been able to get one more blow in at the end of the game.
The Detroit Lions went to kneel down to ice the game once quarterback Baker Mayfield threw his interception on Tampa Bay’s final drive, but they did it too quick. When quarterback Jared Goff went to kneel down on 3rd and 12, he did so with 36 seconds left — the Bucs had a timeout, and should they have used it, they would have forced the Lions to kick a field goal with little time remaining. While unlikely, a missed kick or a block could have extended Tampa Bay’s life, but instead, head coach Todd Bowles did not use the timeout and ended the game.
When asked about this after the game, he gave his explanation:
“They already had the field goal lined up, and there would’ve been about 12 seconds left on the clock to end the ball game. We weren’t going to come back from that. No sense in prolonging the obvious.”
Fans were not happy, and many online were baffled that Bowles seemed to simply give up when his team had a chance, however slim. Here’s what the internet had to say about this coaching decision: