Why do the Bucs, fans appear to be souring on Todd Bowles?

TAMPA — Just like their whirlwind courtship, the honeymoon may be ending quickly for the Bucs and Todd Bowles.

The defensive coordinator for three seasons under Bruce Arians was part of an arranged ascension to head coach.

He received the proposal over the telephone while courtside with his sons at a Hornets basketball game in Charlotte last March. With future Hall of Fame quarterback Tom Brady returning from his 40-day retirement, the opportunity was presented to Bowles as a chance to inherit a Super Bowl contender.

But now the Bucs are 6-7 with one of the worst scoring offenses in the NFL.

With only four games remaining ― against the Bengals on Sunday at Raymond James Stadium, at Arizona on Christmas night, home against the Panthers on New Year’s Day and at Atlanta on Jan. 7 or 8 ― the Bucs hold a slim one-game lead in the woebegone NFC South. Coming off an embarrassing 35-7 loss at San Francisco, the Bucs are reeling under Bowles, having lost five of their last eight games.

Restless fans are attacking Bowles on social media, questioning his placid sideline demeanor and parsing words at every news conference.

It’s possible Bowles, who had three losing seasons in four years as the Jets head coach, is a better fit as defensive coordinator. Or did the factors he inherited doom him from the start?

Celebrity QBs not always a blessing

Due to the lateness of his hiring, Bowles was forced to retain Arians’ entire coaching staff, including offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich, while continuing his own role as defensive play-caller.

Brady missed 10 days of training camp for “personal reasons” that proved to be the end of his 13-year marriage. He hasn’t been the same player the Bucs enjoyed the previous two seasons.

Bowles has endured injuries to the offensive line, poor free-agent signings, bad clock management and a lack of takeaways.

Of course, a lot of the same things have been said before about the marriage of a defensive-minded head coach and celebrity quarterback.

“It’s so like us as fans but we kind of lose sense of history,” said former Bucs and Colts head coach Tony Dungy. “But we’ve had (Tom) Landry-(Roger) Staubach, Chuck Noll-Terry Bradshaw. Jimmy Johnson-Troy Aikman. Bill Belichick-Tom Brady. Pete Carroll-Russell Wilson.

“Pete is outgoing and animated on the sideline and Jimmy was to a certain extent. But you look at Belichick, Chuck and Tom Landry and it’s getting performance. And when you don’t win, the character trait that you show is the cause for not winning. And when you do win, it’s the reason you win. So the whole bottom line is, are you winning?

“That’s what Chuck told me many, many moons ago. You’ve got to be yourself and you can’t worry about those types of things. When he was 1-13, it was a flaw. When they were 16-2 and winning Super Bowls, it was a blessed character trait.”

By inheriting a celebrity quarterback such as Brady, some unrealistic expectations came with it. Anything less than a run to the Super Bowl would be considered a failure. But is this the same Brady that won seven Super Bowls? Because he doesn’t seem to trust his protection, and he is unloading the football faster than ever. His 6.2 yards per attempt are the fewest since he became a starter in 2001. A year ago, he led the league with 43 touchdowns. This season, he has 17.

“You can’t just walk out there and come back. You’re 45 years old,” said former Jets and Chiefs coach Herm Edwards, an NFL analyst for ESPN. “And the next problem is that he’s been so good for so long, all those players say, ‘Well, he’ll win a game for us.’ I’ve said it on television a bunch: it’s time for those players to help Captain America. They need to help him now. He’s helped them his whole career. He’s elevated teams, he’s elevated players because of his play. They need to help him now because he ain’t the same guy. And how can he be? He’s 45 years old. I mean, my God. They expect so much out of him.

“When we got Joe Montana to the Chiefs from San Francisco, I told guys, there’s a difference between being a celebrity and a star. You guys are stars. This dude is a celebrity. This is different. I think when I look at that team, they’re not connected together. Offensively, it’s all third and longs. And all of sudden, you fall in love with Tom Brady will bring us back. But drop back 55 times against San Francisco, you ain’t winning that game. It’s impossible. You have no chance.”

Defensive minds more scrutinized

Bowles’ offense under Leftwich has been labeled as lacking imagination and aggressiveness. The “no risk it, no biscuit” guy is gone, and defensive head coaches tend to protect their side of the football. But with a rebuilt offensive line, the Bucs say they’re playing to the strength of the team.

“It’s really a mischaracterization,” Dungy said. “When I went to Indy, Peyton (Manning) was scared to death. ‘Oh, you want to play 12-10, 13-10 games and I know we’re going to change.’ And I had to say, ‘Peyton, your offensive coordinator coached me in college. We ran the same offense. I love what we’re doing. We’re going to continue to score, we’re going to be aggressive. But you know what we’re not going to do? We’re not going to throw 35 interceptions. We’re not going to do crazy stuff. We’re going to be aggressive but we’re going to be aggressive in a different way.’

“We kind of co-existed and we got it together and he understood, ‘I can throw 48 touchdown passes and only eight interceptions. We can play and run the clock down and score with 30 seconds left in the half as opposed to two and a half minutes. We can manage the game differently.’ It’s a happy medium but people get frustrated with the wrong things.”

It also could be that Bowles is a better coordinator than head coach. His overall record for the latter is 32-48. Coordinators spend long hours working alone, watching film and creating scripts for practice and game plans.

The head coach does more in communicating with the entire team and setting the tone for how to attack each opponent on both sides of the ball. Bowles was expected to bring more accountability.

There’s no shortage of examples of coordinators who failed as head coaches, including Charlie Weis, Bill Callahan, Mike Tice, Romeo Crennel and Rod Marinelli.

Bowles has given plenty of speeches in front of his team. A week prior to beating Seattle in Germany, he talked about overcoming adversity. Earlier this week, Bowles challenged players in a team meeting to determine what the 2022 Bucs will be remembered for.

“It’s not a surprise,” Bowles said of the team’s record. “You are what your record says you are. You wish you could’ve played better but we’re 6-7. We’re still fighting for something and that’s the goal. We’re not going to look back unless you don’t achieve it. Our goals are still in front of us and we’re going full steam ahead.”

What would be considered a success for Bowles in his first season? Would a division title and a loss in the wild-card playoff game secure his future?

“I understand the criticism,” Dungy said. “It brought back memories for me.”

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