Joe often hears head coaches, including Todd Bowles, say how the previous season is ancient history and that every year is a new season.

They’re not looking back because personnel and coaches change annually along with tweaks to scheme and more.

So it made Joe squirm yesterday when Bowles looked in the rear view mirror answering an important question from Ira Kaufman at Bowles’ season-closing news conference.

“What’s your message to Bucs fans who don’t feel you’ve earned a chance to coach this team in 2026?” Kaufman asked.

Bowles replied: “All I can do is coach and be myself, you know. I’ve earned the chance. I’ve won three straight division titles. So, that says a lot as far as I’m concerned … “

Joe gets that Bowles believes in his body of work, but he looked back a full year, which coaches are loathe to do. Joe would have much preferred to hear from Bowles about hidden successes in 2025, along with how he has a very strong vision for the future and the fire to execute it.

Joe has talked to other media and fans and many believe Bowles did not have a good season-ending news conference yesterday, as in he did not inspire confidence.

Bowles is paid to win games and not public perception, but it wasn’t a great look.

Longtime Bucs beat writer Rick Stroud, who works for the struggling twice-weekly Tampa Bay newspaper that also resides behind a paywall, said he thinks Bowles might have hurt himself with ownership in that news conference and did not send a great message.

“Yes, you did win three straight division titles, but the goal is not to win a division title. We would agree with that?” Stroud said on Sports Day Tampa Bay, not to Bowles.

“So if we’re going to stop there and say ‘well, this should be good enough,’ you know, you stand up in front of your team the last two training camps and say, ‘If we’re just in it to win the [NFC] South boys and we’re not winning a Super Bowl, we’re wasting our time.’ I think playoff success matters.”

Joe’s not sure where the Bowles regime goes from here with Bucs fans.

If he’s back next season, the bar will again be very high and fan oatience will be razor thin, unless those above Bowles on the food chain come out publicly and lower expectations. And why would they do that?

Challenging times.