Todd Bowles will keeps defensive play-calling duties. The Buccaneers coach acknowledges the team's defensive struggles and vows to improve.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers fired their offensive coordinator this past week, but the defensive coordinator situation is a little more complex.
Tampa’s defensive coordinator is Todd Bowles, who, in case you don’t know, is also the team’s head coach.
If the Bucs were going to fire Bowles, they probably wouldn’t wait until a week after the regular season ended to do it, so like it or not, he will be the boss in 2026.
But will the boss keep his play calling responsibilities?
Bowles is not expected to look for a new defensive coordinator, Greg Auman of FoxSports reported Thursday.
With that said, Bowles knows the Bucs need to be better on that side of the ball, and he talked about it during last week’s post-2025 requiem.
“You want a bunch of ornery types on defense to add,” Bowles said. “We’ve just got to play it better."
Bowles made it clear the Bucs need to make some changes, “whether it’s schematically or whether it’s physically.”
“We’ll evaluate that in the next coming days, seeing exactly what needs to be changed,” Bowles said.
The schemes are Bowles’ department.
"I know I need to make some changes depending on the players that we have coming back," Bowles said. "Coaching-wise, we need to make some changes as a whole as far as what we’re doing on the field and how we’re teaching guys certain things. Certain guys are probably good at certain things that we need to expose more of their good side as opposed to things that they’re struggling with.”
The Bucs finished 20th out of 32 teams in scoring defense, and a better performance probably would have led to the team winning at least one more game and taking its sixth straight NFC South title.
For instance, the Bucs had a two-touchdown lead in the fourth quarter against the Falcons on a Thursday night in December, and lost the game.
Had the Bucs won that game, and everything else worked out the same, the team would have won the division.
It’s a far cry from where the Bucs wanted to be at the beginning of the season.
“I think we are more hungry this year, I would say," safety Antoine Winfield Jr. told reporters during training camp. "[W]e know we are so close to putting everything together.
"We have all the tools that we need. It is just about putting all the right things together at the right time and staying healthy.”
Join the Community! Don't miss out on our ROUNDTABLE community and the latest news! It's completely free to join. Share your thoughts, engage with our Roundtable writers, and chat with fellow members.
Download the free Roundtable APP, and stay even more connected!