PALM BEACH — Todd Bowles is instituting the no mercy rule. After watching his team bolt to a 3-1 record each of the past two seasons, only to need to pull out of a steep tailspin to win the NFC South, the Bucs head coach wants his players to start stepping on some necks.
Finish games, finish off teams, finish in the Super Bowl. Ruthlessness must replace restlessness.
Put simply, Bowles says the Bucs have lacked a “killer instinct.”
“I feel good that we know how to win,” Bowles said Tuesday at the NFC coaches breakfast during the league’s annual meetings. “I don’t feel good about us finishing the season from a playoff aspect and the middle of the season, having a drought two years in a row. We’ve got to be better from that standpoint.
“From a coaching standpoint, from the veterans holding everybody accountable standpoint — which they do, but we’ve got to do a lot more of that. And we’ve got to play — not even better football at the end, but we’ve got to have a killer instinct and we’ve got to try and blow people out and try to win a division instead of it going down to the last week.”
Bowles said that since the 2024 season ended, he has spent a lot of his time breaking down every play on defense to determine what the Bucs need to do better to avoid the midseason swoon. Two years ago, they lost six of seven games. Last year, it was five of six.
Both times they rallied in December to win the division. But the Bucs dropped playoff games at Detroit and home against Washington that were theirs for the taking in the fourth quarter.
Bowles wasn’t afraid to ask for some help after being criticized for his poor clock management and being risk averse (at Cleveland in 2022, NFC wild-card game at Detroit two years ago, OT loss at Kansas City this past season). The Bucs hired Zach Beistline as their new director of football research. Beistline spent the last 12 seasons as an analyst for the Jags prior to being named their director of game management more recently.
“Just having a full-time, game-day manager with every situation allows me to be a better head coach on both sides of the football while still getting advice from the full-time guy instead of piecing it together from a few people up top that may know a few things instead of everything,” Bowles said. “We’re going to meet all offseason to go over situations and things so we’ll have good communication on game day.
“I think he brings so much to the table from an experience standpoint and a league knowledge standpoint, he can help make me a better coach and us a better team.”
One of the obvious offseason changes was hiring a third offensive coordinator in as many years. As Bowles spoke Tuesday, he could practically touch Carolina head coach Dave Canales, the Bucs offensive coordinator two years ago. Liam Coen, who called plays to help the Bucs average 29.5 points per game last year, is the new head coach of the Jaguars after an awkward split from Tampa Bay.
Bowles, who took the picture with 31 of the 32 NFL head coaches Sunday (the Falcons’ Raheem Morris had a delayed flight), stood next to Coen.
“Me and Liam are very close,” Bowles said. “We have a very good relationship. It’s all fun and games. He knows where I am if he needs to call me. He’s got a great opportunity there in Jacksonville. … No matter how he left, I’m ...
