Buccaneers QB Mayfield Officially out for Steelers Game

What had been expected is now official: Baker Mayfield will not suit up for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Offensive coordinator Zac Robinson confirmed Thursday afternoon in a press conference that Mayfield tried to come back for the Steelers game, but it wasn’t to be.

Head coach Todd Bowles said earlier in the week that Mayfield would only be activated if he were 100%.

The good news is that Mayfield appears to be coming back in short order. When he suffered a dislocated thumb against the Minnesota Vikings Sept. 27, the initial prognosis was 3 to 6 weeks.

If Mayfield is to miss just one more game, he will have missed just two, which isn’t a terrible scenario all things considered.

The problem is that the Bucs just don’t have any wiggle room.

Yes, we are only five games into a 17-game season.

But Tampa is 1-4 after starting 0-4, and only one team has come back from 0-4 to make it the playoffs, with that being the 1992 then-San Diego Chargers.

If Tampa loses to Pittsburgh, it will fall to 1-5, and its odds to make the playoffs will shrink even more.

Jalon Daniels has a lot of pressure on him. The rookie, undrafted free agent from Kansas is 1-0 as a starter, playing well enough not to hurt the Bucs in their win over the Cowboys in Dallas Sunday.

Now, Daniels will make his first start in front of the hometown fans.

He will be the one going toe-to-toe with the great Aaron Rodgers.

Rodgers, 42, will be playing in Raymond James Stadium for what’s certain to be the final time.

Even if Rodgers does decide to renege on his word that this will be his final NFL season, it’s unlikely that he’ll play long enough to start in another road game against the Bucs.

Further, if that somehow does happens, it’s unlikely that Daniels will be the starting quarterback.

When Rodgers started his first NFL season in 2005, Daniels was two years old, quite possibly still in diapers.

A lot has to change for the Bucs to come out of their initial 0-4 slump that put them behind the eight ball. 

If the Bucs can get to 2-4 and have Mayfield back for the division showdown with the Carolina Panthers on the road, then maybe, just maybe, people will start to believe again.