Oct 1, 2023; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles watches his team against the New Orleans Saints during the second quarter at the Caesars Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Hinton-USA TODAY Sports
NFL: Tampa Bay Buccaneers at New Orleans Saints
TAMPA — Todd Bowles is widely know for is quiet demeaner, reserved personality, and serene matter
But he apparently also doesn’t believe in miracles.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers could have actually gotten the ball back for one more shot against the Detroit Lions at the end of Sunday’s NFC Divisional game, but coach Todd Bowles elected to take his last timeout into the offseason.
The Bucs would end up losing the game 31-23 — subsequently ending their season.
“They already had a field goal lined up and it would’ve been about 12 seconds left on the clock to end the ball game, we weren’t going to come back from that,” Bowles told reporters after the game. “No point in prolonging the obvious.”
Fans on X (formerly known as Twitter) disagreed.
“This is the craziest thing I’ve ever seen in football. I don’t know what’s dumber. The Lions snap it early or the Bucs not using the last timeout to try to win the game,” a user tweeted. The post has amassed over 8m impressions.
Former Giants running back Rashad Jennings also called out Bowles for not taking a timeout in that moment.
“As an NFL player, this makes zero sense,” Jennings said. “Make that make sense. I see why people say the NFL is rigged — it’s absolutely not — but this is the type of stuff, when you have this kind of mental error as a staff, somebody should see this.”
With how little time was left on the clock, it was nearly impossible for the Buccaneers to mount a comeback. They needed the Lions to miss a 49-yards field goal, and Baker Mayfield would have had to throw a Hail Mary just to give Tampa Bay a chance at a two-point conversion to send the game to overtime.
But hey, crazier things have happened in the NFL – hopefully Bowles knows he can’t carry that timeout into the 2025 season.
