NFL.com: Bucs A Playoff Contender? Sell!
December 22nd, 2025
Losing trust.
It’s all over. Time to start prepping for the draft. Look at possible free agent targets. Study the roster on who should be launched.
That’s basically the word from Jeffri Chadiha of NFL.com. Chadiha went through all the teams still alive for a playoff berth. And when he came to the Bucs, losing back-to-back games to the slimy Saints and the Dixie Chicks proved to Chadiha that the Bucs have no business in the playoffs.
There was time back in the first month of the season when the Buccaneers were truly defying gravity. They kept losing all these players to injuries and still they found ways to win, often in dramatic fashion at the end of games. The irony is the more key players this team returns to the field, the worse they end up looking. The Bucs have a number of stars back in the lineup — including running back Bucky Irving and wide receivers Chris Godwin and Mike Evans — and they’re currently mired in a three-game losing streak. One of those losses can be explained away to Carolina being a solid team. The other two — to the Saints and Falcons — indicate that the Bucs can’t be trusted if they end up winning the South.
Joe sees Chadiha working here. On the “Ira Kaufman Podcast” last week, Joe picked the Stinking Panthers to win because Joe simply can no longer trust this Bucs defense. Kaufman picked them, too.
And when the head coach is also the defensive coordinator and his defense cannot be trusted, that’s a very bad sign.