The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have won four consecutive NFC South division titles from 2021 through 2024. And Todd Bowles has played a crucial role in the franchise’s consistent performance, first as a defensive coordinator (2021) and then as a head coach (since 2022). However, that consistency within the Buccaneers wasn’t visible at the start of the 2026 season.
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Through the first four games, the Buccaneers didn’t win a single game, with fans questioning the head coach’s efforts. Then, in Week 5, Tampa Bay bounced back with a 24-16 win against the Dallas Cowboys. Following that, the head coach shared his honest thoughts on how he sees their season moving forward.
“Well, you can always yell at em, number one. You always have to yell at em, but you kind of keep it in perspective. And for me, I always take the season in quarters, you know, and my explanation was we lost the first quarter,” Bowles said on PFF NFL Show. “We went 0-4. We lost the first quarter of the season. I’ve never seen anybody lose the season by losing the first four games or lose a game by losing the first quarter. So, we’re now we’re in the second quarter right now. So far, we’re winning it.
“We got to try to come away with this one and win the second quarter, and then we feel like we’ll be right back in contention, going back where we need to get to. So we kind of take and compartmentalize it a little bit and go by quarters as opposed to, ‘Oh, we’re 0-4’. The season’s over, or this is. We lost the first quarter of the season; that’s it. We lost the first quarter of the season there’s nothing we can do about it but correct it and move on from there, and that’s how we kind of keep going that way, and we kind of lead with that message, and going in, and then we kind of go from there.”
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ disastrous 0-4 start had many reasons. First, they suffered a devastating blow in Week 3 when starting quarterback Baker Mayfield dislocated his thumb on his throwing hand.
Prior to the injury, Mayfield was already facing pressure, leading the league in sacks taken. In the first four weeks, Tampa Bay’s front line surrendered around 15 sacks while exposing their quarterbacks to immediate pressure.
Despite the tough start to the season, Todd Bowles remains optimistic about the Buccaneers’ future and distinguishes their campaign in quarters. The HC also admitted to poor performance in the first quarter, resulting in a 0-4 record.
In the second quarter, Baker Mayfield & team bounced back by defeating the Dallas Cowboys in a road game. Even though they lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the subsequent matchup, the Buccaneers once again bounced back with a victory over the Carolina Panthers in Week 7.
The Buccaneers still have two more quarters to progress through the 2026 season.
Several teams have made a comeback from a rough 0-4 start to qualify for the postseason games. Take the 2015 Kansas City Chiefs, for example, who flipped the script by closing out the regular season on a historic 10-game winning streak to capture a Wild Card spot after a 1-5 slump.