Four days after a home loss to the New Orleans Saints, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers blew a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter to lose 29-28 at home to the Atlanta Falcons on Thursday Night Football.
THE FALCONS WALK OFF THE BUCS IN TAMPA BAY!
Rate Al Michaels’ call on a scale of 1-10. 🏈🎙️ #NFL #TNF pic.twitter.com/ZqFpk6X896
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) December 12, 2025
The Saints entered Sunday with a 2-10 record, while the Falcons entered Thursday at 4-9. Tampa Bay is now 7-7 after taking a 6-2 record into Week 10, and the collapse has led to falling behind the Carolina Panthers (7-6) in the NFC South.
After Thursday night’s loss, Tampa Bay head coach Todd Bowles reached his breaking point.
In the postgame press conference, Bowles called the loss “inexcusable” and dropped several F-bombs.
Todd Bowles sounds off after the Bucs’ latest disappointing home loss. 🏈🎙️🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬 #NFL #TNF pic.twitter.com/QdFn36sESE
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) December 12, 2025
A reporter asked Bowles, “What do you tell them in the locker room after a game like this?”
“It’s inexcusable, Bowles said. “You don’t make excuses. You got to f*cking care enough where this sh*t hurts. You got to f*cking care enough where this sh*t hurts. Got to f*cking mean something to you. It’s more than a job. It’s your f*cking livelihood. How well do you know your job? How well can you do your job? You can’t sugarcoat that sh*t. It was inf*ckingexcusable. And there’s no f*cking answer for it. There’s no excuse for it. That’s what you tell them in the locker room. Look in the f*cking mirror.”
One of the calmest profanity-laced postgame tirades you will ever see.
Bowles also said that Tampa Bay coaches “have done everything they can do” and added that the players “got to hold each other accountable.”
An angry Todd Bowles just threw his players under the bus.
“Coaches have done all they can do”
“They have to hold themselves accountable”
This is exactly what it sounds like when the end is near. The Bucs are cooked. It’s over, folks. pic.twitter.com/vntvGIm9Ka
— Josh Hill (@jdavhill) December 12, 2025
“The coaches have done everything they can do,” Bowles said. “This is a player-driven team in the last four or five weeks. You got to execute, and they got to hold each other accountable. As a coach, you can sit there until you’re blue in the face. Until they start holding each other accountable and doing the little things right. And that’s not everybody… Talking about a small, select few. But the small, select few is what’s getting us beat. And until that happens, it’s not going to get right. So, we got to get up and go to work tomorrow. No matter how bad today looks, you got to put it behind you. And we got to win the last three games. We know that.”
The Bucs go on the road to face the Panthers next, and they face each other twice over the final three weeks with the NFC South division title on the line. If Tampa Bay doesn’t find a way to turn it back on and win the division, Bowles might not be around to do Bucs press conferences next season.
About Matt Clapp
Matt is an editor/writer at The Comeback and Awful Announcing.
He can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.