Through the first three games of the season, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have looked like one of the worst teams in the NFL.

The Bucs are looking to return to the playoffs after missing out last season following a 2-7 collapse down the stretch. A talented roster and playing in a weak division made Tampa's return to the postseason look like a solid bet.

However, the season could not have started worse for the Bucs, who have yet to turn in a solid performance in any of their three games.

In the season opener, Tampa played a sloppy, mistake-filled game against the Cincinnati Bengals that included losing four fumbles. They lost 33-27 in a game where the final score makes the contest appear closer than it actually was.

However, Week 2 provided the Bucs an excellent chance to bounce back. Playing at home against a Cleveland Browns team that was decimated the week before, Tampa entered the game as 8.5-point favorites, with a motivated quarterback in Baker Mayfield looking for revenge against the team that tossed him away like garbage.

The Bucs couldn't get it done, losing 23-19 after leading 16-6 in the third quarter. To make matters worse, Mayfield was completely outplayed by his Cleveland counterpart, Deshaun Watson, who replaced him as the Browns' QB.

This past Sunday, unfortunately, was the most damaging of the three losses. Facing a tough Minnesota Vikings squad, Tampa desperately needed a win to avoid a dreaded 0-3 start.

Instead, the Bucs' offensive line was overwhelmed by the Vikings' aggressive defense, giving up six sacks and causing Mayfield to run for his life throughout the game. The offense couldn't get anything going, wasting a strong effort from the Tampa defense, in a brutal 23-16 defeat.

To add injury to insult, Mayfield suffered a dislocated thumb on his throwing hand with 1:54 left in the game, and is expected to miss at least the next three weeks. Wide receiver Jalen McMillan also aggravated the knee injury he sustained early in training camp and is expected to miss 6-8 weeks with a PCL sprain.

Things in Tampa look very bleak, even though playing in the NFC South offers a sliver of hope most 0-3 teams aren't afforded.

The Bucs look like one of the NFL's bottom feeders thus far, and their new spot in weekly power rankings shows that is exactly how they are being viewed. ESPN has dropped Tampa all the way down to 30th in its latest rankings.

Tampa's season is on the brink of being lost. If not for the other three teams in the division also struggling, the Bucs would already be looking toward 2027.

If the season ended today, Tampa would own the top pick in next year's draft.

Now the Bucs must turn to undrafted rookie Jalon Daniels at QB as they try to somehow turn their season around. Daniels looked terrific in Tampa's first two preseason games, and his winning the QB2 job over veteran Jake Browning was one of the NFL's most surprising stories of the preseason.

How will Daniels respond? The feel-good, storybook start to his career is over. Now, the heat is on, and he will be judged by how he performs in real games. With Tampa's season on the line, the pressure on the rookie to step up is immense.

Unless Daniels can lead the team to a miraculous October, the Bucs will continue to justify their standing as one of the NFL's worst teams.