Facing an almost impossible set of circumstances, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had to dig deep and find any way to win on Sunday against the Green Bay Packers. 

Despite a valiant effort from the defense and flashes of the playmaking ability from undrafted rookie Jalon Daniels that earned him the backup quarterback job in the preseason, the Bucs couldn’t get it done, falling 17-14 at home. 

Tampa now sits at 0-4, and the season already appears lost. Perhaps playing in the weak NFC South still offers a sliver of hope, but the Bucs are already two games back of the Carolina Panthers and whoever wins on Monday night between the Atlanta Falcons and New Orleans Saints. 

Being two games back with 13 games left doesn’t seem like an impossible hole to dig out of, but the Bucs have given absolutely zero reason for anyone to believe they will be able to turn things around. All three division rivals look like much better football teams than the Bucs, and at 0-4, the chances of them earning a wild card spot are virtually nil. 

Tampa needed to overcome incredibly difficult odds to beat the Packers, and the task proved too much for a team in the midst of a downward spiral. 

Green Bay is a good team, and the Bucs had to face them with starting QB Baker Mayfield out with a dislocated thumb. Sunday was the first game Mayfield has missed in his three-plus seasons with the team. 

Head coach Todd Bowles has already said Daniels will get another start on Thursday night against the Dallas Cowboys, so Tampa must endure at least one more game without Mayfield. 

With the season almost certainly sunk, here are my five biggest takeaways from Sunday’s loss. 

1. The Bucs desperately miss Mike Evans: When Evans left in free agency after a dozen Hall of Fame-worthy seasons in Tampa, the Bucs passing offense still looked like it could be potent with Mayfield and WRs Emeka Egbuka, Chris Godwin Jr., Jalen McMillan, and rookie Ted Hurst. 

Ot has been anything but. McMillan can’t stay healthy and is expected to be out for 6-8 weeks with a knee injury. 

Egbuka, last year’s first-round pick, has yet to step up and show he can be a WR1. He only has 15 catches for 154 yards and a single touchdown through four games, and has two games with fewer than 20 receiving yards. 

Godwin, long Robin to Evans’ Batman, only has 16-142 and no TDs, while Hurst, who has been thrust into a much larger role than expected as a rookie, has only 8 catches for 128 yards. 

Without Evans, there is nobody in the passing offense who can put the team on his back and carry the Bucs to a victory. 

2. The defense is actually pretty good: The defense only allowed 283 total yards of offense against the Packers, after only giving up 230 and 267 the previous two games. 

The run defense has been especially strong, only giving up 100 yards once, which was in the season opener (106).

The pass rush has been horribly disappointing, but overall the defense has played well and done enough that even having an average offense would have given the Bucs at least two, possibly three, wins. 

Rookie linebacker Josiah Trotter has been terrific so far. 

3. Todd Bowles needs to be replaced: I hate saying anyone deserves to lose his job, but Bowles is simply not doing a good enough job to remain this team’s head coach. 

When former star players go on rants about the atrocious coaching the team is getting, it is time for a change. 

Under Bowles, the Bucs have underachieved for years, and they have now lost 11 of their last 13 games. It is clear the locker room needs a new voice, a new leader, and a new direction.

4. The Mayfield and Vea extensions were mistakes: When the team finally ended the prolonged contracted disputes with its two star players, it gave a sense of hope and washed away most of the bad vibes the distractions had brought to the team. 

I believed the team was to right to extend Mayfield, and still think he was the team’s best long-term option at quarterback. However, I thought Tampa should have only given Vea more money this season without committing big future dollars. 

When a team signs two 31-year-olds to huge contract extensions, it is expecting to win now. Instead, the Bucs have sunk to being one of the league’s worst teams, and they are financially committed to Vea for another season and Mayfield for three. 

With the benefit of hindsight, it is easy to see that the team should have held firm with Vea and waited to see how Mayfield played this season before making him the NFL’s third-highest-paid QB (tied). 

5. Jalon Daniels has a bright future: Even though he couldn’t lead his team to a much-needed win in his first NFL start, Daniels showed great poise and some of the playmaking ability that led to his meteoric rise this offseason. 

Yes, he made mistakes. But that is to be expected of an undrafted rookie making his first NFL start. Daniels made plays with his arm and his legs, and the 23-year-old looks like he can become a more-than-capable starter in the future. 

Daniels became the first rookie QB to start a game in the NFL this season, despite 10 being drafted, while Daniels was not. 

He has a ton of promise and will get his second start in just four days, on the road, in a game the Bucs absolutely have to win if the season is to even remain on life support.