Chris Godwin tore his ACL for Bucs, done for the year

Chris Godwin’s season is over with and done, as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver tore his ACL in Sunday night’s pitiful loss to the division rival New Orleans Saints.

Not only did the Tampa Bay Buccaneers get embarrassingly shut out by the New Orleans Saints on Sunday Night Football, but they lost star wide receiver Chris Godwin for the season in the process.

Godwin tore his ACL, leaving the Buccaneers receiving corps severely undermanned. At one point in the game, Tampa Bay was without its top three wide receivers. Mike Evans suffered a hamstring injury, but is fortunate to be week-to-week with it. Though Antonio Brown did not play in the game, he is expected to clear COVID-19 protocols after faking his vaccination status.

The Buccaneers are fortunate to have three incredibly winnable games the rest of the season.

Chris Godwin injury status: Buccaneers WR out for season with torn ACL

While losing a division game to the Saints stinks, Tampa Bay should win its final three games over the New York Jets and the Carolina Panthers twice. Those teams are so down for the count, it is ridiculous. Though Tampa Bay will almost certainly win its first division title since 2007, probably by this time next week, losing Godwin for the year hurts their shot at a rare Super Bowl repeat.

Even if the Buccaneers do end up with home-field advantage in the NFC as the No. 1 seed, they will be without one of their most explosive weapons the rest of the way. This puts even more pressure on Tom Brady to spread the ball to other receiving targets. We all saw first-hand what happens when he does not have a reliable receiving corps to lean on. This could get ugly for them.

With Godwin out for the year, expect for Brown, Evans and the rest of the receiving corps to step up.