TAMPA - The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are 0-2 for the first time since 2014 after a 23-19 loss to the Cleveland Browns Sunday, a start that head coach Todd Bowles says demands a new level of urgency with 15 games remaining and the NFC South title already in jeopardy.
The loss to Cleveland was the second consecutive narrow defeat for Tampa Bay. In Week One, the Buccaneers lost to the Cincinnati Bengals by six points despite fumbling the ball away four times. Against Cleveland, a 132-minute lightning suspension halted play in the final two minutes with the Bucs trailing by four and driving at the Browns’ 28-yard line. Tampa Bay ran out of downs without converting.
“I think [there is] always pressure until you get your first win out [of] the way,” Bowles said. “You know, you try to get it out the way at the beginning of the season so you don’t have to worry about it anymore. It’s not a different kind of pressure, so to speak. It’s probably a different kind of urgency - not that you’re not playing urgent already - but you just want to get that first win on the board.”
The historical odds are not favorable. Since 2002, only 12% of teams that started 0-2 have made the playoffs that season. The last time the Buccaneers started 0-2 and still reached the postseason was 1982, a season shortened to nine games by a player strike. In each of Bowles’ first four seasons as head coach, Tampa Bay won at least two games before suffering its first loss, capturing the NFC South crown in three of those four years - 2022, 2023 and 2024. Last season, the Buccaneers finished 8-9 and lost a tiebreaker to the Carolina Panthers, snapping a four-year division title streak.
Still, Bowles pushed back on any suggestion the early skid has shaken the locker room. “I feel like that won’t be determined until the end of the season,” he said when asked about his team’s confidence. “I think if you lose the first two games of the year, that doesn’t determine the other 15 games. Right now, we’re 0-2 - we’re not 0-9 or 0-11. That doesn’t bother me as much from that standpoint. We’ve just got to get better and win a ballgame.”
Six teams have started 0-2 in the past two seasons and still qualified for the postseason, including the Panthers last year. Tampa Bay remains one game off the pace in the NFC South with all six divisional matchups still ahead.
The Buccaneers host the Minnesota Vikings in Week 3. Minnesota enters at 2-0 after defeating Green Bay 39-22 in Week One and Chicago 9-3 this past Sunday. Kickoff at Raymond James Stadium will mark Tampa Bay’s first opportunity to avoid its worst start in more than a decade.