TAMPA, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Buccaneers had a short stay in this year’s postseason. The Washington Commanders beat the Bucs 23-20 Sunday in the Wild Card Round.
Washington kicker Zane Gonzalez banked in the game-winning field goal off the upright as time expired.
Bucs players cleaned out their lockers a day after the disappointing loss.
“Obviously, we want to see the whole thing through,” linebacker Lavonte David said. “Coming in here, basically having to clear everything out. See all the guys for possibly the last time. It’s a weird feeling.”
The Bucs finished the regular season 10-7 and won the NFC South for a fourth consecutive season. Considering the amount of injuries to key players like Chris Godwin, Mike Evans and Antoine Winfield, Jr., maybe this team over-achieved. But that’s not how head coach Todd Bowles sees it.
“We under-achieved as far as ourselves are concerned,” Bowles said. “We don’t worry about external expectations. Our internal expectations was for us to go to the Super Bowl, injury or regardless. We did not get that accomplished. We did some good things throughout the year. We had guys injured, we got to the playoffs, but our expectations are to win the Super Bowl.”
“When Bruce Arians came in and Bowles took over, it was a different standard. We never want to be in this position,” David added. “Winning the divisional title was cool, but the ultimate goal is winning the Super Bowl. We fell short of that, we definitely feel like we got the pieces in place to do that. This year fell short of that.”
Six losses this season — including Sunday’s — were one-score games. It was a fourth-quarter botched snap between Baker Mayfield and Jalen McMillan that helped the Commanders eliminate the Bucs. It just goes to show that one play can change a game or even a season.
“Specifically as an offense, we were top ten in pretty much every category except for turnovers,” tight end Cade Otton said. “That’s something as a team, as a group, we’ll work on fixing next year. Definitely, when you look back at it, some of those mistakes at key times definitely came back to bite us.”
Bucs offensive coordinator Liam Coen is getting interest from the Jacksonville Jaguars for their head coach position. Other than that, Bowles said that he hasn’t decided on changes to his coaching staff.
For Black History Month, ABC Action News reporter Michael Paluska sat down with two Black photographers. Both use their images to inspire and educate.
