When the Bucs lost six of seven games midseason, entering the month of December with a 4-7 mark, it sure looked like Todd Bowles’ hot seat was scalding.
Baker Mayfield also seemed to be a one-and-done quarterback with the Bucs.
Fans were openly talking about who should be the next coach, and they were getting stoked about the chance to draft Michael Penix or Bo Nix.
Then, something happened to the Bucs. They suddenly began winning, losing just one game the rest of the regular season. Next thing you know they are stomping the Eagles in the wild card round at The Licht House on Monday Night Football.
In the annual SiriusXM NFL Radio training camp tour stop at One Buc Palace yesterday, former Vikings and Dolphins general manager Rick Spielman asked Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht what clicked for the team to do a 180 as they did last season.
“I really can’t point the finger at what it was,” Licht said.
However, if Licht had to take an educated guess, it was Todd Bowles’ steady demeanor and lack of panic that not only didn’t rub off on his players, but it guided the team to the light at the end of the tunnel.
“Todd, our head coach, does a great job of being the same every day, steading the ship,” Licht said. Bowles doesn’t “get too emotional, one way or the other.”
Licht also gave credit to the leadership of Mayfield himself. The veteran quarterback had seen adversity in his short time in the NFL before arriving in Tampa Bay.
“He kept everybody positive, everybody loose,” Licht said of Mayfield. “And he fought his @ss off for every yard he threw for or rushed for.
“Everybody just jumped on the bandwagon with him. He was basically saying, ‘Come with me. Let’s go win. Let’s go turn this around and I will buy drinks at the bar at the end of the day.’
“Everybody kind of bought into that.”
Whatever Bowles and Mayfield did, it worked to turn the season around. The Bucs would go on to win the NFC South for a third straight year and they were a couple of plays away from upsetting the Lions on the road in the playoffs and advancing to the NFC title game.
