TAMPA, Fla. — Todd Bowles wore a grim expression on his face as the football coach trudged to the lectern for his post-game news conference.
His Tampa Bay Buccaneers had eked out a 16-14 victory over the visiting Carolina Panthers in their regular-season finale to keep their postseason hopes alive. But uncertainty hung in the air rather than the typical jubilance of a winning locker room. Bowles and his players still had no idea if their season had ended or if it would continue next weekend in the playoffs.
A brutal second half of the season that saw the Buccaneers — plagued by injury and disjointed play on both sides of the ball — lose seven of their previous eight games meant that Tampa Bay, even with the win over Carolina, didn’t control its own path. Instead, the Buccaneers need the New Orleans Saints to upset the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday for Tampa Bay to win the NFC South and qualify for the playoffs despite an 8-9 record.
So, after breathing a brief sigh of relief Saturday night over beating the Panthers, to whom they had lost 23-20 just two weeks earlier, the Buccaneers settled in for an uncomfortable next several hours, which may or may not make way for an uncomfortable next several months.
Opting to count his blessings, Bowles said, “You can’t wait ’til tomorrow if you don’t win today, so, it was a gutsy performance. These guys fought hard. It was a hard-fought game. Tough on both sides. We gave ourselves a chance, and that’s all we could ask for.”
He later acknowledged, “It gives us a chance, even just for 24 hours, it gives us a chance.”
Part of Bowles just savored the fact that his team had finally snapped a four-game losing streak and found itself on the right side of a narrow outcome — winning by 2 points after losing the last three games by a combined 7 points.
“To come out and win this one after losing quite a few and finally winning a close game is satisfying,” the coach said.
Bowles and his players never expected to find themselves in this position given the way they rolled to a 6-2 start. Back then, the Bucs got included in potential Super Bowl contender discussions, and Baker Mayfield inspired MVP talk.
But the resilience that enabled the Bucs to overcome an early string of injuries faded somewhere around their Week 9 bye and despite gradually getting back reinforcements, the team went from contenders to can’t-get-rights. The offense struggled to string together scoring drives while opponents became near automatic in the red zone and Bowles and his coaching staff struggled to find answers on either side of the ball.
Saturday afternoon, however, Tampa Bay felt like an old prize fighter that’s no longer light on its feet and has lost its knockout punch, but keeps on swinging and absorbing body blows, surviving on sheer will.
A 10-0 lead quickly evaporated thanks to an interception deep in Tampa Bay territory that Carolina promptly cashed in for a Bryce Young touchdown pass to pull his team within 3. From there, the offense slogged to a crawl. There were no fireworks from Mayfield and talented wide receivers Mike Evans, Chris Godwin and Emeka Egbuka. The quarterback had to settle for shorter throws to tight end Cade Otten, who had scored the game-opening touchdown. After the first quarter, the Buccaneers had only one play longer than 21 yards (a 22-yard pass to Otton).
With torrential rains falling for much of the game, Tampa Bay grinded out yards on the ground, with Bucky Irving leading the way with 85 yards on 26 carries. When Mayfield did drop back to pass, his protection wasn’t there and the quarterback, already gritting his way through a variety of injuries, frequently found himself scrambling to elude defenders, bolting towards daylight and crashing into defenders for tough yards rather than sliding. The Bucs’ second-half possessions played out as follows: punt, field goal, missed field goal and punt.
And the defense couldn’t put the Panthers away, either. A first-half interception and early fourth-quarter fumble recovery helped compensate for the offensive struggles. But a blown coverage resulted in a 40-yard Bryce Young pass to rookie wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan, and one play later, Young connected with wideout Jalen Cooker from 8 yards out to cut the score to 16-14 with 2:31 to play.
Fortunately for Tampa Bay, Mayfield and company did manage to milk 129 seconds off the clock before having to punt again. Carolina, who recovered at its own 3, had just 18 seconds to work with and a failed hook-and-ladder play sealed the game.
“Still alive,” Mayfield said afterwards. “Still alive.”
And then began the waiting game. Bowles and his players struggled to describe the feelings of the situation. There was disappointment they even found themselves in a position where their future rested in another team’s hands. But they also felt a sense of accomplishment.
“Disappointment today could be jubilation tomorrow,” Bowles said. “If tomorrow doesn’t happen, we’ll be disappointed. We put ourselves in this situation. We’re all grown men about it. We could have made a ton of plays, but we can’t look back and dwell on it. We just have to move forward and they showed fight tonight and they showed grit tonight, so we’ll just have to see what happens.”
Said Mayfield, “Honestly, it just felt good to get back in the win column. Having that singular game focus: control what we can control. It’s just about right now. Go execute to the best level we can and find a way to win. … You can’t go back and change anything. That was the focus this week: control today and see where the chips fall. So, we did that. … We’ll all be pulling for New Orleans.”
Otten, who finished with a game-high seven catches for 94 yards, chuckled and said, “Tell the rest of the league don’t let us in. Absolutely. … Starting today, it was one-game seasons each and every time, and we’ve proved this season we can beat any of the teams in the league, and we’ve beaten the best teams in the league, and so we just hope we get that chance.”
If the Bucs do get that chance, they have some serious questions to answer. Given the drop-off in offensive explosiveness and the regression the defense displayed (Tampa Bay went from outscoring opponents 24.6-20.3 in the first eight games to getting outscored 25.8-22.3 since the bye), it’s fair to wonder if they are even equipped for a wild-card victory, let alone a deep run.
If Tampa Bay’s season ends Sunday in the form of a Falcons’ victory, team officials certainly will have long-term questions to answer. Bowles’ future has come under debate down the stretch of this season despite having signed a contract extension along with general manager Jason Licht in the summer. Mayfield’s contract expires after the next season, meaning he could be in line for an extension this offseason. The interior of the offensive line needs upgrades, as do the linebacker and edge rusher positions.
The Buccaneers, however, hope they can delay answering any tough questions for a few more weeks, however.
“Obviously, cheering on the Saints,” Otton said. “Hate to say it, but, ‘Who dat?’”