Todd Bowles’ Ranking Amongst NFL Coaches Is Surprising

Bucs head coach Todd Bowles has been given his fair share of criticism in his two years since taking over the team. Bowles has a 17-17 record in Tampa Bay with two division championships and a 1-2 postseason record. Having the same amount of wins and losses in the regular season shows the peaks and valleys he has had. But what coach hasn’t dealt with some ups and downs? How does Todd Bowles look compared to his peers around the league?

In a CBS Sports article from Cody Benjamin, he went on and ranked all 32 coaches in the league. Let’s just say if Todd Bowles has a look at it, he won’t exactly be delighted about it. Todd Bowles came in at 22 overall and placed in class B of “Accomplished, with questions.” This is what was said.

Todd Bowles Gets A Tough Ranking

Bucs HC Todd Bowles – Photo by: USA Today

“Bowles, who also went 2-1 as the Miami Dolphins’ interim in 2011, isn’t entirely dissimilar from his NFC South counterpart Dennis Allen in that his physical defense tends to mask more conservative game-management calls for a borderline wild-card contender. Still, in the last four years, he’s won a Super Bowl ring and led a playoff win of his own, giving him a touch more authority.”

The only coaches that have spent at least one full season with their current team that has a worse ranking that Bowles is Dennis Allen with the Saints, Robert Saleh of the Jets, Jonathan Gannon of the Cardinals and Bears coach Matt Eberflus. Of all the coaches of teams that made the postseason last year, Bowles has the lowest at 22, the next closest is Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy at 17.

Understanding that Todd Bowles does have his pitfalls, deciding where he stands among other coaches in the league is complex. The article points out that Bowles has been conservative in game management. There’s a degree of truth to it, but I’d argue it’s more the inconstancies of his coaching tactics that has plagued him.

Examining Bowles’ Coaching Seasons

At the beginning of the season, Bowles would be fine settling for a long field goal thanks to the leg of Chase McLaughlin. As the year went on, he became more aggressive as was highlighted when the Bucs went for two following a touchdown after making it a one possession game against the Lions in the divisional round of the playoffs.

Bucs head coach Todd Bowles – Photo by: USA Today

The timeouts and clock management are still an enigma for Todd Bowles. He and the Bucs rarely ever call timeouts in the first half, which became a running storyline throughout the season. Then there was the snafu at the end of that same playoff game aginst the Lions where he didn’t call a timeout that would have at least forced the Lions to kick a field goal instead of allowing the clock to run out.

Viewing how Bowles went through his first two seasons as Bucs head coach might be different from person to person. The negative would be that he went 8-9 while having Tom Brady as his quarterback. The positive, though, is the next season he made changes and brought in a new offensive coordinator and even improved having Baker Mayfield under center and with very few other free agent moves and managed to go 9-8 when many expected the Bucs to end up with a top 10 draft pick after it.

Todd Bowles is still highly respected as a defensive game planner. And more importantly, his players love to play for him. That was evident when the Bucs were able to get through a skid of losing six of seven games during the middle of the season. Other teams would completely folded, but Tampa Bay got it together and won the division with a winning record.

It wouldn’t be fair to say that Bowles is on the hot seat heading into this year. At the same notion, he’s not exactly secure with a losing season either. Another division title, which would be four in a row for the Bucs and five straight playoff appearances would go a long way with getting bumped up for a better ranking.