Can The Bucs Replicate Another Bounce-Back Season?

As bad as it’s gotten for the Bucs, having lost four straight games and five of their last six, they’ve been here before. The way the 2024 season has panned out for Tampa Bay is almost an exactly replica of what went on in 2023.

For the second year in a row, the Bucs started out 2-0, lost their third game at home, but then went on to win the next game and start out the first month 3-1.

But that’s when everything started to take a nosedive for the Bucs. For the second straight year, Tampa Bay has gone 1-5 after starting the season 3-1.

Bucs Are In A Similar Setting

Does a four-game losing streak sound familiar? That’s exactly what happened for Tampa Bay last season as the team immediately lost four straight and six of the next seven games. This year was slightly different as the Bucs lost, won and then find themselves on a four-game losing streak, and losing five of the last six games. It’s crazy how almost identical everything has shaped out for the Bucs, although they don’t want to end up losing of six of seven again.

“We don’t have doom and gloom,” head coach Todd Bowles said this week. “We lost two tough games – three if you want to count them – but the schedule doesn’t get easier. This is the NFL, you’re not playing anybody that’s soft on the schedule. Everybody has first-round picks and athletes and everybody is well-coached, so if we come back from the break thinking the schedule is easier, we’re going to lose every game. We’re going to lose every last game.

“We have to come back and take care of us and do the things we need to do to win regardless of opponent. And if we want to be one of the good teams, we have to beat the good teams, and we knew that coming in. It’s understandable how we feel, but it’s never doom and gloom.”

It feels like the bye week is coming at the right time for the Bucs. Losing all of these close games can be mentally taxing and the injuries continue to pile up week after week. Tampa Bay is without wide receiver Mike Evans and cornerback Jamel Dean and likely will be without Tristan Wirfs for a couple of games as he sprained his knee last game. Bowles discussed the team’s approach to this week ahead.

“[We’re] trying to get everybody healthy, going to recalibrate, we need time off,” Bowles said. “They’re off after Wednesday anyway, they’re going to have four days off – practicing one day is not going to help that so they’ll get the rest of the week off after Tuesday. We’ll get some guys healthy, hopefully. Some guys that are playing are banged up, hopefully they get healthy, get to recalibrate, step back and look and everything. Coaches will self-scout, we’ll come up with better plans and we’ll do some things to get ready for the stretch run.”

Better Results Coming For The Bucs?

The good news is that the 2023 Bucs were able to rattle off four consecutive wins after the team fell to 4-7, and also won five of the team’s final six games. The 2024 Bucs would love to have similar success, and by the means of their schedule it’s certainly possible. Have a look at Tampa Bay’s strength of schedule, charted by Timo Riske of Pro Football Focus.

With games against the Giants, Panthers and Raiders coming out of the bye. That’s certainly a great way to build momentum for the home stretch. The only team the Bucs have remaining on their schedule with a winning record is the 6-3 Chargers, who make for stiff competition, but aren’t an unbeatable team.

Chasing the division crown while trailing the Falcons, who currently have a three-game lead, including the tiebreaker, is a conversation for another day. But finding a way to go 6-1 down the stretch and getting to 10 wins keeps the Bucs in play for a Wild Card playoff spot and may save Todd Bowles’ job.

“I know that we all hate losing, and that’s something we talked about in the locker room after, you know, don’t get used to this,” tight end Cade Otton said. “We know we’re capable of playing at a high level. We know we can beat the best teams in the league, and we see ourselves as being up there. We just have to prove it – we have to find ways to win. There’s an urgency there, but we’re not breaking apart or anything. We’re not pointing fingers. We’re just going back to work and doing anything we can to find a way to win.”

Having won six of seven last year, who says Tampa Bay can’t do it again? Maybe this time the team will do one better and just win seven in a row.

The Bucs have been in this position before, which is why the locker room isn’t lost. They just have to take it one game at at time and start stacking wins after the bye week.