For the second straight week, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost to a division opponent with a losing record. And in dramatic fashion too, as the Atlanta Falcons took down Baker Mayfield and the Bucs 29-28 on a last-second field goal in Week 15’s edition of Thursday Night Football.
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That drops the Buccaneers down to 7-7 on the season, a half-game behind the 7-6 Carolina Panthers, who could make it a full-game lead if they beat the 3-10 New Orleans Saints, who themselves are coming off that upset win over the Bucs in Week 14.
But who is to blame for the frustrating loss? After the game, starting quarterback Baker Mayfield wasted no time in taking that blame on himself, as a good leader should do.
“This one is going to haunt me. It falls on my shoulders,” Mayfield said. “It’s not the defense’s fault. It’s my fault.”
Whether Mayfield really deserves the blame is up for debate, however. The offense did put up 28 points, to be fair. Not to mention that Mayfield was harried and pressured and bothered on nearly every play, suffering five sacks on the night. Not ideal for a guy who’s been dealing with an injury to his non-throwing shoulder for the last few weeks.
One fan on Reddit pointed out that Mayfield’s 2025 campaign is starting to look eerily similar to his 2021 season with the Cleveland Browns. But they added that the Bucs should not react to it the way Cleveland did four years ago.
“It’s 2021 for Baker all over again. Comes off his best career year, high expectations, starts off hot. Has a shoulder injury that is a pure pain tolerance issue, plays, and plays poorly. Me personally, I give the guy … a little grace. … The way people are talking about him is f*cking wild,” the Reddit poster said.
It’s literally what Browns fans said in 2021 that this was who Baker ‘was’ and he’s not a top 15 QB. He’s clearly injured. Don’t make broad statements about a player who has been amazing for us in a year he’s clearly injured. If Baker fans can admit he’s been bad, can Baker haters admit saying this is who he is as a player is silly?
“He’s been bad, but he’s not the main issue. Coaching Staff are the bigger problems we should have kept Coen, I think we can all agree on that now,” one fan responded.
“As bad as he has been, 28 points should be enough to win against these Falcons,” chimed in another.
“I still can’t bring myself to blame Baker. O-Line got harassed tonight, which leaves him in situations where he can’t throw away the ball without getting called for intentional grounding,” added a third.
“Baker’s our guy. I have no concerns about him,” said one confident fan.
Head coach Todd Bowles certainly appreciates his quarterback’s selfless leadership style. He said after the game that the team would be able to figure out their problems much more quickly if everyone could “look himself in the mirror and be honest with himself,” the way Baker did. In fact, Bowles went on an expletive-laden rant about not making excuses.
“You don’t make excuses. You got to f–king care enough where the s–t hurts. It’s got to f–king mean something to you. It’s more than a job. It’s your f–king livelihood. How well do you know your job? How well can you do your job? You can’t sugarcoat that s–t.”
It was a bad loss for the Bucs, who have now dropped five of their last six games. But it’s not the end of the world.
Even if the Panthers beat the Saints to go 8-6 and take a one-game lead, Tampa and Carolina still have two matchups against one another. The winner of the division is likely to be decided during that home-and-away series anyway.
