2 Buccaneers to blame for letting Ravens walk all over them on MNF

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were gifted a chance to reclaim first place in the NFC South after Atlanta's embarrassing loss to Seattle on Sunday. Instead, the Bucs suffered a rather embarrassing defeat of their own, 41-31 to the visiting Baltimore Ravens on Monday Night Football.

There's no shame in losing to this Baltimore team. The Ravens have won five straight and Lamar Jackson is doing MVP things again. That said, the final score was much closer than the game actually was. Tampa Bay was down 34-10 when the fourth quarter began. The Bucs were able to stockpile points in garbage time, but there was no real chance to win the game. Baltimore steamrolled its way to victory with relative ease.

It's not hard to pass around blame. The entire Bucs defense should look in the mirror after letting Lamar carve them up for 333 combined yards and five touchdowns, all without committing a single turnover.

Meanwhile, the offense was a mess. Mike Evans left the game in the second quarter and the Bucs' passing attack shut down. There was no separation for receivers downfield, none of the explosive plays we've come to expect from this revamped, Baker Mayfield-led group. Just a snail's crawl until Baltimore packed up shop in the fourth quarter.

That said, we can pretty easily direct the blame to two folks in particular.

2. Baker Mayfield put together his worst game of the season

The stats are inflated after a go-for-broke fourth quarter. Baker Mayfield completed 28-of-39 passes for 331 yards and three touchdowns, which is excellent production on the surface. That was not the real game, though. Tampa Bay took a 10-0 lead in the first quarter, then fell apart. Baltimore's defense was in Mayfield's grill all night and he couldn't handle the pressure.

After throwing five interceptions through the first six weeks of the season, Mayfield threw two on Monday — including this obvious mistake in the red zone that Payton Manning saw coming a mile away on the alternate broadcast.

Mayfield has earned his share of grace with a spectacular season to date, but he stunk on Monday. Plain and simple. The Ravens were able to rattle him early, leading to a breakdown in footwork and rushed decisions. He wasn't helped by his WR room — Chris Godwin's quiet night after Evans' departure stands out — but Mayfield carries the baton for this offense. The Bucs go as he goes, and not enough was going on Monday night.

At least the memes were strong.

This was pretty much a worst-case game for the Bucs offense. The ground attack was muted, Baker was sloppy, and in the end, both Mike Evans and Chris Godwin suffered major, season-altering injuries. Not only does Tampa Bay lose this game, but the path to the postseason just got significantly harder.

1. Todd Bowles just made his seat red-hot for no good reason

Obviously, the Bucs aren't going to turn around and fire Todd Bowles, who has done a commendable job for much of this season. But suffering such an ugly loss on national television tends to color the national (and local) perspective of a head coach.

Bowles was not in his best form on Monday night. He's in charge of the Bucs' defense and, well, Baltimore dropped 41 points. That included a fourth quarter in which the Ravens were already loading the team busses. Tampa Bay's front seven couldn't contain Lamar Jackson in the pocket, while the secondary had more lapses than a scuffed DVD.

More than defense, however, Bowles bears the brunt of the blame for Tampa's truly confounding game management. The Bucs punted on fourth-and-short multiple times in a game that was already spiraling out of control. Then, with the game out of reach in the fourth quarter, Bowles kept his starters on the field to play hero ball. Rather than protecting his best players in a lost game, Bowles decided to let Mayfield lob passes into traffic on meaningless plays.

The result? A season-ending ankle injury for Chris Godwin.

There was simply no reason for Godwin to be catching passes over the middle of the field with 40-odd seconds left in a two-score football game.

Just awful awareness from Bowles that not only costs Tampa Bay this game, but could tank the Bucs' entire season. Here's to hoping that Godwin makes a swift and full recovery.