All the Tampa Bay Buccaneers needed to do was to keep pace after their bye week, which they entered with a 6-2 record. Instead, the Buccaneers finished the season 8-9 and missed out on the playoffs altogether, as the Atlanta Falcons defeated the New Orleans Saints to hand-deliver the NFC South Championship to the Carolina Panthers. The team went from Super Bowl contenders to watching the Super Bowl at home.
Buccaneers fans were fed up with the team continuing to fall off the proverbial cliff in the second half of the season. That anger was directed towards head coach Todd Bowles, and said fans were calling for his job.