John Romano: Where do the Buccaneers go from an 0-2 start? Hint: It may not be up.

John Romano, Tampa Bay Times on Sep 22, 2026

Published in Football

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TAMPA, Fla. — Baker Mayfield. Charismatic guy. Tough son-of-a-gun.

And 0-2 quarterback.

Todd Bowles. Sweet man. Respected leader.

And 0-2 coach.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Deep roster. Well-paid group.

And 0-2 team.

The rest is details. Gratuitous. All you really need to know is the Bucs are winless and seemingly witless.

This is where we are today. Two weeks into a season and too many blunders to comprehend. As much as you may love your quarterback, as much as you want your head coach to succeed, there is no justification for an 0-2 start that includes a 23-19 loss to the sitcom known as the Browns.

Fans in Cleveland have been booing their quarterback, ridiculing their owner and actively looking forward to the 2027 NFL draft. Yet the Browns are 1-1 and the Bucs are walking into walls.

“It’s frustrating. I don’t know what’s going on, or what it means,” said left tackle Tristan Wirfs. “Obviously we’re shooting ourselves in the foot with penalties. Everyone knows that. But where’s it coming from? It’s annoying. It pisses everybody off. I would have never thought we could go 0-2. Somehow, we’ve got to dig ourselves out.”

That would be difficult for a good team. After eight quarters of football, I’m not sure that describes the Bucs.

Look back at the last decade, and you’ll find 84 teams have started a season at 0-2. Roughly 14% go on to make the playoffs.

Let that be the thought that comforts you with Minnesota, Green Bay and Dallas coming up over the next 18 days.

“It’s shooting ourselves in the foot, not making the plays when we need them,” Mayfield said. “These are fixable things but that also makes it more frustrating. Just get it corrected.”

So, are penalties really to blame? Sure, that’s a logical starting place.

After all, center Graham Barton was called for holding on second down from the Cleveland 13 with 45 seconds remaining in the game. The penalty pushed the Bucs into a second-and-long situation and they never recovered.

But why were the Bucs even in that predicament?

How did Bowles’ defense allow Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson to put together scoring drives on three of Cleveland’s four second-half possessions to wipe out two Tampa Bay leads? How did the Browns defense hold Mayfield to 5.4 yards per pass attempt a week after allowing Jacksonville’s Trevor Lawrence to average 10.7 per attempt? Why were the Bucs sending five receivers out on second down from the 13? And why did six other Tampa Bay receivers have more passes thrown their way than Chris Godwin?

But, sure, blame it all on the penalties.

That’s the problem with starting off with a disappointing loss and following up with a putrid one. All the foibles that usually go unnoticed now seem obvious and damning. And the maddening aspect is that now that you’ve seen these shortcomings, you can’t stop staring at them.

“I hate saying we have to look in the mirror, but that’s what we’ve got to do,” Wirfs said.

When you think about it, this is the same team that was talking about a deep playoff run just a few weeks ago. The same team that was willing to cough up $156 million in guaranteed money to Mayfield and Vita Vea in recent weeks because this roster looked like a winner. The same team that rebuilt its defense and bragged about its offense

Maybe that’s where you find comfort in the misery. Because the reason this stinks as much as it does is because it arrived so unexpectedly.

Maybe the rest of the world didn’t have much faith in this team, but the Bucs were so cocksure, so carefree, so ready to attack the season that most of Tampa Bay bought into the idea that a division title was a near formality. And if you believed that in August, you just need to look deeper for it in September.

That’s not a bad idea because we know the alternative. It likely means empty bleachers. It probably involves Mayfield getting snippy. It could turn into a loss of confidence for younger players. And it almost assuredly means a long, loud and ugly debate about Bowles’ future.

“We’ve dealt with adversity before. This is an adverse situation again,” Bowles said. “(It’s) the first time at the beginning of the season, but we’re 0-2 right now and we have to pull ourselves up by our boots and we’ve got to win.”

Bucs fans. Optimistic. Passionate.

And 0-2 suckers.

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