Buccaneers' Todd Bowles: 'Every time we go forward, we're going backwards'

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have started the 2026 NFL season 0-4, and head coach Todd Bowles no longer has a tidy way to describe what is happening. After Sunday's home loss to the Green Bay Packers, his seat has seemingly heated up significantly.

Tampa Bay played that game without starting quarterback Baker Mayfield, who was sidelined by injury. Jalon Daniels got the start in his place, and the switch behind center did nothing to change the season's bottom line.

Bowles did not try to sugarcoat it afterward.

Every time we go forward, it seems like we're going backwards.

In comments reported by ESPN's Jenna Laine, the coach detailed the pattern. "We can't put it together completely," he said. "If we get a sack, we get a penalty that puts us back and shoots ourselves in the foot. We've got to be better there."

Self-inflicted wounds have defined Tampa Bay's year. Penalties have been a major issue. The offense is also turning the ball over at an alarming rate and struggling to move the football, a trend that began well before Mayfield went down last week.

Still breathing in the NFC South

For all of that dysfunction, the Buccaneers are somehow not buried. The ineptitude of the NFC South means an 0-4 start is still far from a mathematical death sentence, and Tampa Bay remains within reach of the division race.

That is cold comfort to a fanbase already calling for Bowles' job, and the calls figure to grow louder unless the results turn quickly. The Buccaneers get a short week before their next chance: Thursday on the road against the Dallas Cowboys, with kickoff set for 8:15 p.m. ET.

At 0-4, it is hard to imagine things having gone much worse for a team that expected to contend. Bowles knows it, and his postgame words made clear he is not hiding from it.