After losing their Week 17 clash against the Miami Dolphins, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have now lost four consecutive games. With one game left, fingers are again pointing at the special team’s incompetence. Still, head coach Todd Bowles is not looking to make a splash. In his mind, tossing special teams coach Thomas McGaughey now helps no one.

Meanwhile, the timing made the question unavoidable. Just nine days ago, Rams head coach Sean McVay pulled the plug on his special teams coach Chase Blackburn after a tight loss to the Seahawks. Hence, reporters pressed whether Bowles would follow the same script. But his answer was clear and firm.

“No, I am not,” Bowles said.

Then, the follow-up came quickly. Given how shaky the Bucs’ special teams have looked, did Bowles think McGaughey deserved to be shown the door? Again, Bowles did not budge.

“No, I have not,” Bowles repeated his stance.

Still, the Bucs’ head coach knows the margin is gone. According to him, the mistakes are coming from within. They are not structural. They are mental and situational. However, fixing that now comes with pressure. The season finale against Carolina was flexed.

“It’s working on us,” Bowles said. “Obviously, working on us. Understanding the things that we did wrong so we can get right. We don’t play 48 or 60 minutes of bad football; we play spurts, and we have a couple plays. We’ve got to put it together. It’s the last game—one way or the other, we’ve got to find a way to win.”

And the numbers back up the frustration. The Bucs’ special teams have been rough all season. Even Week 17 told the same story.

Todd Bowles’ special teams have big ongoing issues

However, all season, the lone bright spot on special teams had been Chase McLaughlin’s leg. The kicker rolled into South Beach riding an NFL-record streak of 11 straight field goals from 50 yards or more. So when he lined up for a 55-yarder before halftime at Hard Rock Stadium, Bucs Nation felt calm. Instead, Dolphins lineman Zeek Biggers blocked it with ease. In that moment, even the one reliable unit cracked.

Then, Todd Bowles, without sugarcoating, addressed what went wrong.

“To me, it looked like a low kick because there was no penetration,” coach Bowles said Monday. “He had a hand up, and I thought the ball came out low.”

Like that kick, the path of the Bucs special teams unit has dropped fast and hard. Because of that miss, the math changed. Tampa Bay needed those three points. And in the end, the Bucs fell short by 3 points.

Worse, it marked the fourth blocked kick this season, including a punt. At the same time, the staff has quietly waved the white flag on kickoff coverage. Bowles now orders McLaughlin to blast it through the end zone. Touchbacks feel safer. After all, the alternative has burned them too often.

For the Bucs, giving up a touchback beats watching a return reach midfield or the house. It nearly happened again on Sunday. McLaughlin aimed deep, but he missed. Malik Washington caught it short and ripped off a 48-yard return to midfield. Raymond James Stadium was not even involved, yet the anxiety felt the same.

Ultimately, that return sealed it for Bowles. Despite choosing the bottom third of the roster to handle the special teams’ duties, his trust is gone. That single play confirmed it. Right now, the Bucs’ special teams are not just struggling. They are surviving through avoidance, and that says everything.