‘Still in Need of a Reset,’ ‘This Team Isn’t Going Anywhere With Todd Bowles’ — NFL Analysts Pump Brakes on Buccaneers’ Hype Despite Upset vs Cowboys

At 0-4, with Baker Mayfield nursing a thumb injury, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers pulled off an upset over the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday Night Football.

But for a few NFL analysts, that doesn’t mean the franchise should ignore Bowles’ body of work that raised red flags in the build-up to this win.

Analysts Still Want the Buccaneers to Remove Todd Bowles as Head Coach

After their success and a Super Bowl under Bruce Arians, the Buccaneers elevated their defensive coordinator to a head coaching role. Since taking over the job, though, the results have been underwhelming for Bowles.

The Bucs made the playoffs in three out of four years, but questions have been raised over what the ceiling is for a team coached by Bowles.

“Although it was a good win, my confidence level in Todd Bowles and the Bucs did not change,” Pro Football Network’s Caleb Yaccarino admitted. “This is still a team that is, for now, tied for last in one of the worst divisions in football. Maybe this is the start of something, but it’s more likely that Bowles still gets fired.”

‘Still in Need of a Reset,’

He was far from the only one to feel that way, as even their win was rife with coaching mistakes. The worst of them came in the fourth quarter as he went for it on 4th down despite being up 14 and with less than 9 minutes remaining in the game.

The move backfired, and the Cowboys could have had a chance to tie the game in regulation, if not for a pass bouncing off Jake Ferguson and landing with the Buccaneers for an interception.

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Jacob Infante pointed to them as he wrote, “I’m still not sold on the Buccaneers as a legitimate contender in the NFC South. Todd Bowles made some questionable decisions in the win over the Cowboys, and they still sit at 1-4 with a difficult path to a playoff appearance. It’s nice for them to end their winless streak, but this is still a team in need of a reset.”

Some folks were at least more open to the possibility of this being a turning point for the Buccaneers and Bowles in particular.

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“Don’t let this Bucs win fool you. Todd Bowles still has to put more things together this season,”admitted Joe Rutland.

‘Still in Need of a Reset,’

Rutland added, “His job status is still up for discussion. Can this victory over the Cowboys make the team better going forward? They’d better use it for fuel.”

Longtime Buccaneers fan Alex Kennedy didn’t mince words about his team’s situation as he wrote, “This team isn’t going anywhere with Todd Bowles as its head coach. This win allows Bowles to keep his job for another week, but it just delays the inevitable.”

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Going a step further, he added, “He’s still one of the worst head coaches in the league, and I don’t see this team making the playoffs, so he will likely be replaced at season’s end.”

With a potential complete fire sale lurking in the distance, Kyle Soppe believes this win will only delay the inevitable for the Buccaneers. Citing it as a league-wide problem, he believed such upsets could ultimately end up hurting the team more than helping it.

“Bowles getting bailed out, Kirk Cousins winning games in Vegas. This is why rebuilding in the NFL can be tough,” he claimed. “It’s such a thin line between disaster and success. Weird outcomes can delay/prevent future growth. These teams would be good sooner if they lost every game, but that’s not how this works.”

Brandon Astreicher, too, was sure that the Bowles era needs to come to an end for the Buccaneers in a hurry. While he gave credit to the team for their hard-fought win, he doesn’t believe it’s enough to justify keeping Bowles at the helm.

“Shoutout Jalon Daniels, man,”he wrote. “Making the most of his opportunity and winning games while your head coach is actively costing your team. Bowles bought himself some time, but this win shouldn’t mean anything, and he should be gone at their next awful showing.”

‘Still in Need of a Reset,’

It remains to be seen if and when the Buccaneers do decide to move on from Bowles. Historically, they haven’t made it a habit to fire a head coach in the middle of the season. You have to go back to 1990, when Ray Perkins was dismissed with three games remaining

But it seems clear that fans and analysts alike have reached a consensus on the state of the team under the current coaching regime.

This article originally appeared on Pro Football Network.