5 Buccaneers to blame for season-defining loss to Packers

With the Tampa Bay Buccaneers having started their season with an 0-3 record, their Week 4 contest against the Green Bay Packers felt like a must-win if they wanted to keep their playoff hopes alive. Their defense played well enough to win, holding the Packers to just 17 points, but their Baker Mayfield-less offense sputtered, resulting in a loss that dropped Tampa Bay to an NFL-worst 0-4.

While the NFC South remains an iffy division, coming back from 0-4 is likely an impossible task, especially with Mayfield expected to miss more than just this week. Here are five individuals who deserve a ton of blame for what feels like a season-defining loss.

Head coach Todd Bowles

Why not start off easy? Look, I get that there's only so much that a head coach can actually control. At the end of the day, it's on the players to play better. With that being said, Bowles could have trusted Chase McLaughlin, one of the best kickers in the NFL, to tie this game late in the fourth quarter, rather than go for it on 4th-and-11 with Daniels and risk another loss. For reference, McLaughlin drilled a 65-yarder last season, and the Bucs could've attempted a kick from that same distance. Bowles' aggressiveness backfired, and now the Bucs, a team many expected to seriously compete for the NFC South crown this season, are 0-4.

What makes matters worse is that the Bucs ended last season having lost seven of their final nine games, choking away a shot at the playoffs. At a certain point, enough has to be enough. I thought the Bucs' performance down the stretch of last season would've resulted in Bowles' firing, but the organization opted to hold onto him. Adding to this putrid start to last season's disaster, it's impossible to justify keeping Bowles around for much longer.

TE Cade Otton

To his credit, Cade Otton did lead the team in receiving yards, but it's not as if a 37-yard output is enough to absolve him of blame. In fact, Otton could've added half that total, if not more, had he turned this perfect Jalon Daniels pass into an important completion.

It was a grind all afternoon for the Buccaneers to generate offense, and understandably so, given their quarterback situation. With that in mind, if Daniels comes through with a perfect pass to a wide-open tight end who, by the way, was recently handed a three-year, $30 million extension, wouldn't you expect said tight end to make a key catch? Otton dropped just one pass in all of 2025, and in four weeks, he's doubled that total. To put it clearly, the Buccaneers need more from a player who is supposed to be an important member of their offense.

Entire Buccaneers pass rush

The Buccaneers had just 6.0 sacks through their first three weeks of the season, good for a share of the seventh-worst mark in the NFL. They've had trouble getting to opposing quarterbacks all year, but this felt like a good game for them to get going. The Packers have really been struggling, and might have the worst offensive line in the NFL.

Well, the Bucs combined for zero sacks in this game. Zilch. According to PFF, the Bucs were credited with two pressures all game. They allowed 28 (!) pressures in Week 3. Again, the Packers' offensive line was looking like the worst in the NFL entering this game by a wide margin. The Bucs not getting to Love at all is pretty inexcusable.

Offensive coordinator Zac Robinson

Life was always going to be challenging for the Bucs with Baker Mayfield out, but are we forgetting that the Packers allowed 35 points to the Falcons last week? Are we forgetting that the Packers allowed 39 points to the Carson Wentz-led Vikings in Week 1? Micah Parsons didn't play in this game, yet the Bucs didn't generate much of anything offensively, and it feels like offensive coordinator Zac Robinson deserves blame for that.

It feels like this offense is just so uncreative. There are far too many screens and not enough action down the field. I understand that it's hard to trust an undrafted rookie, but could Robinson not figure out a way to feature his skill-position talent better? Why did Emeka Egbuka, their best weapon, end this game with two receptions and four targets, for example? I mean, Ted Hurst had three targets, for crying out loud. The Bucs' offense is predictable and boring, much like it was under Josh Grizzard last year.

QB Jalon Daniels

On one hand, it feels a bit unfair to put Jalon Daniels on this list of players to blame. He showed some real flashes in this game, and as an undrafted rookie, he probably wasn't ready to appear in a regular-season game this quickly into his NFL career. On the other hand, Daniels threw two first-half interceptions that led to 10 Packers points. Those were the only points Green Bay scored in the entire half.

The Bucs only lost this game by three points, so can you imagine what this game might've looked like had Daniels been able to avoid these mistakes? Again, he played pretty well, especially when considering the circumstances, but gut-wrenching interceptions are hard to overcome, especially for a winless team. If it weren't for his mistakes, the Bucs might've won this game.

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