“Black Monday” came with several NFL head coaches being fired. Kevin Stefanski, Pete Carroll and Jonathan Gannon all received that news on Monday, and Raheem Morris was fired on Sunday after the Atlanta Falcons’ final regular-season game.
One other coach who was on the hot seat is Todd Bowles of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Bowles led Tampa Bay to a 16-14 win over the Carolina Panthers on Saturday, but missed out on the NFC South title due to a tiebreaker scenario that saw Carolina win the division.
On Monday, Bowles had a strong message about why he should be able to return as head coach in 2026.
“All I can do is coach and be myself. I’ve earned the chance. I’ve won three straight division titles, so that says a lot as far as I’m concerned,” Bowles said.
Bucs coach Todd Bowles has not yet met with the Glazer family about his future but said “I’ve earned the chance. I’ve won three straight division titles so that says at lot as far as I’m concerned.” pic.twitter.com/wxiML3nYsp
— Rick Stroud (@NFLSTROUD) January 5, 2026
The Buccaneers began the season with a 6-2 record going into the bye, but they went just 2-7 the rest of the way to finish with an 8-9 mark and miss the postseason.
Bowles now has a 35-33 record in four seasons as the Tampa Bay head coach, and this is the first time the Buccaneers have missed the playoffs during that time.
Entering the final week, NFL insider Ian Rapoport said that Bowles being fired was “certainly not” a likely scenario, especially since he signed a three-year contract extension before the season.
As of now, there has been zero indication of whether or not Bowles will return in 2026, but some sort of announcement from the team should be coming soon, in one way or another.
