The Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ season ended with a disappointing Wild Card Round loss to the Washington Commanders.
However, Bowles is now 27-24 in three seasons as Bucs head coach, and his defense struggled mightily this season. The team’s success this year was largely due to Bucs OC Liam Coen’s terrific offense. As a result, Coen is receiving plenty of head-coaching buzz.
Would general manager Jason Licht let go of Bowles to promote Coen to head coach?
What Went Wrong for Bowles?
Lack of Takeaways
Bowles’ defenses are typically known for creating a lot of takeaways, but that wasn’t the case this season.
The Bucs had just 18 takeaways this season. Not only was this an all-time low for a Bowles-led Bucs defense (as head coach or defensive coordinator), but the Buccaneers’ seven interceptions this season was a new franchise low.
The previous franchise low was nine (set in 1976, 1993, 1994, and 2018).
Poor Clock/Game Management
Bowles often makes puzzling decisions at key moments and consistently struggles with clock management. This was on display at several points of the Wild Card loss to the Commanders.
After the loss to Washington, a number of NFL analysts were critical of Bowles and questioned if he might lose his job because of the blunders.
After the repeated (and egregious) game management issues this season, I have to think there's a possibility that this is Todd Bowles' last game as the Bucs head coach.
— Brett Kollmann (@BrettKollmann) January 13, 2025
“After the repeated (and egregious) game management issues this season, I have to think there’s a possibility that this is Todd Bowles’ last game as Bucs head coach,” Brett Kollmann posted.
I’m not sure what Todd Bowles does well as a head coach. He inherited a talented team in an awful division. The defense he leads can never get big stops when they need one. His clock/game-management is abhorrent. Tampa should fire him and promote Liam Coen before it’s too late.
— Sam Quinn (@SamQuinnCBS) January 13, 2025
“I’m not sure what Todd Bowles does well as a head coach. He inherited a talented team in an awful division. The defense he leads can never get big stops when they need one. His clock/game management is abhorrent. Tampa should fire him and promote Liam Coen before it’s too late,” Sam Quinn added.
The Bucs have to move on from Bowles, regardless of the outcome today, and promote Liam Coen to HC. They cannot risk losing him for more of *this*
— Ollie Connolly (@OllieConnolly) January 5, 2025
Late Season Inconsistencies
The Buccaneers lost to the Cooper Rush-led Cowboys in Week 16, a game that could have made Week 18 meaningless. They allowed 7.9 yards per attempt to a compromised passing game and couldn’t get out of their own way (six penalties, 100% conversion rate allowed in the red zone).
While the Bucs defeated the New Orleans Saints to win the NFC South for a fourth consecutive season, they had an awful performance in the Wild Cound Round against the Commanders to end their season. Bowles’ teams have been extremely inconsistent.
What Went Right for Bowles?
Strong Culture
Bowles’ players love him and the Bucs have created a really strong, team-first culture.
Every offseason, players want to stay in Tampa Bay and even sometimes take less money to do so, which is a testament to what Bowles and Licht have built.
Earlier this season, Licht credited Bowles for that culture: “We owe that to the culture that’s been built by Todd Bowles. This is a coach that these guys love to play for. They love to re-sign here and come back for. They don’t want to leave, and the head coach drives the culture. And we have an outstanding culture. I can’t think of a better time that we’ve had since I’ve been here, this is going on Year 11, where the locker room is more closely knit than it is right now. You know that started with [Bruce Arians], but now a big factor of that is Todd keeping it going and making it even closer.”
If anything is going to protect Bowles’ job now (and in the future), it is this.
The Passing Game
The Baker Mayfield revival is credited in part to Bowles and it has fueled this team’s ranking seventh in pass EPA during his three seasons.
Bowles was a safety as a player, and his NFL resume is on the defensive side of the ball, but his offenses have shown consistency and trust — marks of a team that can exceed expectations in today’s NFL.
However, Coen likely deserves the bulk of the credit for the offense’s excellent play.
Clutch Time
Tied to the success of his passing games has been a rock-solid showing in the final 15 minutes of games. During his three seasons in Tampa Bay, Bowles’ Bucs ranked second in fourth-quarter point differential.
We saw this team score on three possessions against the Carolina Panthers (Week 13) to help them save a must-have game in a contest in which they had nothing going prior.
Will Bowles Get Fired?
Since the Buccaneers won the NFC South once again, Bowles’ job is likely safe. It helps that he was the defensive coordinator for Tampa Bay from 2019-2021, including the 2020 Super Bowl championship season.
But many Bucs fans want the team to part ways with Bowles and promote Coen to head coach to ensure he doesn’t leave for a head coach gig elsewhere.
Coen has done an incredible job with the Bucs’ offense, and one has to wonder if Licht would do whatever is necessary to keep the 39-year-old offensive mastermind in Tampa Bay, even if that means firing Bowles. Under Coen, Tampa Bay ranked in the top five in just about every statistical category.
When Coen took over the job, the Bucs had the worst rushing attack in the NFL, and he stressed that fixing this unit was his top priority. Coen has done just that, turning this into a top-five rushing attack.
Drafting Bucky Irving certainly helped, but Coen deserves credit for his creativity and unpredictable play-calling. He sometimes plays multiple backs at the same time and uses fake handoffs and misdirections to keep the defense guessing.
The passing attack was incredible as well, and Baker Mayfield has already recorded career-highs in passing yards (4,500), passing touchdowns (41), completion percentage (71.4%), rushing touchdowns (three), and rushing yards (378).
Even when key pieces like Chris Godwin, Mike Evans, Tristan Wirfs, Luke Goedeke, Jalen McMillan, Rachaad White, and Cade Otton got hurt, the offense hasn’t missed a beat.
It’s only a matter of time until Coen becomes a head coach in the NFL; it remains to be seen if it will be in Tampa Bay or somewhere else. If Licht opts to stick with Bowles, the Bucs will have to find their fourth OC in four seasons.