Historical Drive For Five
March 30th, 2025
So Joe has referenced many times how stunning it is that the Bucs have won four consecutive division titles following a Super Bowl win.
The team is in very rare company.
Now, the Bucs are gunning for a fifth consecutive division title and are a clear favorite to get it. So how uncommon is five consecutive division titles? (Forget about them coming immediately after a Super Bowl and the challenge that brings.)
The Bills are currently riding a streak of five in a row. The Colts’ division streak with Peyton Manning (2003 – 2007) stopped at five. That also happened to the Cowboys of the Jimmy Johnson/Barry Switzer era (1992 – 1996).
In ancient NFL times, the Browns, Vikings and Steelers all put together six-year runs of division crowns. Until the mid-2010s, those streaks tied for the second-longest in NFL history.
The Rams’ seven-year streak of division titles (1973-1979) stood as the NFL’s gold standard until the Patriots got there in 2014.
New England’s run of 11 consecutive AFC East crowns (2009-2019) is tops in NFL history. The Chiefs are currently on a nine-season run.
So Joe thinks all provides a lot of perspective on how special the Bucs’ current run would be if they could up it to five straight years of NFC titles.
Fun fact: Neither Pete Carroll, Mike Tomlin nor John Harbaugh has won more than two consecutive division titles.
March 30th, 2025 at 3:05 pm
Good job Bowles!
Oh wait a second good job players. Yeah that is it.
Bowles only gets the blame of failure. Smh
March 30th, 2025 at 3:18 pm
If the Falcons sweep the Bucs again, The Panthers and Saints step up their game, The Bucs (under Bowels) luck will have run out….
Time will tell BUT I wouldn’t bet a cheese steak on it!…
March 30th, 2025 at 3:32 pm
🔥 todd
March 30th, 2025 at 3:40 pm
Extend Bowles!
March 30th, 2025 at 4:04 pm
My main complaint with Todd Bowles has been his time management. However, this year, we may not be able to blame him for that, as he reportedly hired someone specifically to handle time management on game days. Another issue has been his reluctance to move on from players, such as KJ Britt, when it became clear that they were unable to perform at the NFL level due to their lack of athletic ability. Maybe its loyalty to a fault? That same loyalty that has players signing for a fraction of what they could have elsewhere when it does pan out so I guess you live and die by it at the same time….
On the positive side, Bowles does an excellent job preparing his players and coaching up defensive backs specifically, possibly better than any other coach in the league. He has also developed the last two offensive coordinators in-house. We’ll see how he handles his third, as they are all independent men in their own right. However, Bowles still had to make the decision to hire them, and it’s worth noting that the first offensive coordinator had never called plays before either. Both are now head coaches in the league. If he continues to develop successful coaches, it might show that his leadership goes beyond just the X’s and O’s on game day. His growth as a coach, particularly in handling different personalities and skills within his staff, and players could be key in his future success with the team.
March 30th, 2025 at 4:15 pm
Historic 👍
March 30th, 2025 at 4:20 pm
Go Bucs!!!
March 30th, 2025 at 4:30 pm
@Tye you’re obviously an a-hurt Eagles fan and we will not only win the division but the conference as well.
March 30th, 2025 at 4:30 pm
Bowles has frustrated me as a fan as much as some of the other fans. I really appreciate his self awareness and introspection to go back and be critical of himself. Reinforcing his strengths and making changes in areas where he feels he needs more help. The world would be a much better place if everyone was half as cognizant of their shortcomings. Great job coach.
March 30th, 2025 at 4:45 pm
Tye … ‘If the Falcons sweep the Bucs again, The Panthers and Saints step up their game, The Bucs (under Bowels) luck will have run out….’
Think you missed something Tye. Starting in 2020, the Bucs have won 4 of the 6 NFC South division games each and every year.
o 2020: Lost to Saints twice.
o 2021: Lost to Saints twice.
o 2022: Lost to Panthers & Falcons.
o 2023: Lost to Falcons & Saints.
o 2024: Lost to Falcons twice.
So over the past 5 seasons we’ve lost to the Saints 5 times, to the Falcons 4 times and to the Panthers 1 time.
One key to winning the NFC South division seems to be winning at least two-thirds of the games within the division. Ours is NOT a strong division (neither was New England’s when they won 11 in a row).
March 30th, 2025 at 4:47 pm
He hasn’t even won 53% of his games with this team.
March 30th, 2025 at 5:07 pm
Historically bad division. Put those NFC South titles next to a local bowling tournament trophy. Yes, you won, but who did you beat?
March 30th, 2025 at 5:27 pm
As mentioned above, Cousins swept us before being benched, and the panthers should have a much better season this year. If the saints improve at all and our defense doesn’t improve drastically this streak ends. I hope they get thie secondary fixed
March 30th, 2025 at 5:37 pm
SB win is what is important. Everything else is second place. Division titles are Meh.
March 30th, 2025 at 5:45 pm
Tomlin takes his team to the playoffs every year (but last) and his fan base hates him as well. I wonder what they have in common…
March 30th, 2025 at 6:03 pm
View from 132 Says:
March 30th, 2025 at 5:07 pm
Historically bad division. Put those NFC South titles next to a local bowling tournament trophy. Yes, you won, but who did you beat?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The first place Eagles, the first place Lions, the first place Commanders and the Chargers. Other than them nobody.
March 30th, 2025 at 6:16 pm
‘I wonder what they have in common’
Tomlin hasn’t won a playoff game in a decade. Is the goal to just make it to the post season or to be successful in the post season. Todd will have a lot fewer detractors if he won a few more playoff games. Race has nothing to do with it.
March 30th, 2025 at 6:17 pm
B that is too FREAKING FUNNY, but spot on.
March 30th, 2025 at 6:21 pm
Stanglassman Says:
March 30th, 2025 at 4:30 pm
Bowles has frustrated me as a fan as much as some of the other fans. I really appreciate his self awareness and introspection to go back and be critical of himself. Reinforcing his strengths and making changes in areas where he feels he needs more help. The world would be a much better place if everyone was half as cognizant of their shortcomings. Great job coach.
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Really good comment. Don’t expect that those who continually run down Coach Bowles will do any introspection. Those who do little more than complain on these pages are often wrong but never in doubt.
March 30th, 2025 at 6:47 pm
Regarding the “fun fact” at the bottom, first nevermind Carroll cause that dude’s not personally putting any team over the top for anything, but as to Tomlin and John Harbaugh (both whom most certainly would)….
What if Harbaugh, and/or Tomlin were coaching any squad including ours in the perennially-lowly NFC South ?? (when we darn sure should have traded for Harbaugh a few years ago when Biscotti waited on his extension.
The fun fact there woulda been Harbaugh breezed right by anybody, if coaching in the cluster…that is the NFC South. Fun (shoulda-been) fact.
The division matters.
March 30th, 2025 at 7:13 pm
Almost laughable how the GOAT carved up the AFC east year after year while the rest of the division floundered around trying to find a servicable QB and team. Talk about morons.
March 30th, 2025 at 7:41 pm
Give the lies a rest !
A couple of you are CLEARLY very old and dealing with a severe case of dementia! Or you’re hoping that others are….
Todd Bowles has plenty of reasons why he’s been considered by many thousands as “ON THE HOT SEAT” year after year and it’s NOT mainly, “because he’s a deer in the headlights” when it comes to critical thinking and actions AND lack there of!
He has NEVER excepted responsibility for ANYTHING! He is NOTORIOUS for throwing any and EVERYBODY under the bus to save his neck, as well!
Tell you what Glassman, why don’t you provide a couple of examples of your empty statements.. Let’s hear how chicken little has manned up and taken responsibility for ANYTHING AT ALL……
So Much More than that!! His secondary IS the RUNNING JOKE of the NFL! And what are they ranked again????? HERE, let me remind you….. NEXT TO LAST out of 32 teams!!!!!!!
Bowles has EARNED his HOT SEAT as much as he’s LUCKED into division titles FALLING BACKWARDS!
Todd Bowles IS the Homer Simpson of the NFL! And I Sure Hope Our True Great Leader, “Jason Licht” , dumps his butt if he doesn’t FINALLY step up this year! I also hope Licht PRINTS THIS and pastes it ALL OVER BOWLES WALL!
March 30th, 2025 at 7:48 pm
yeah NE carved up the lowly AFC East for years and never won a bowling trophy. They did have a lot of SB apperances so there’s that. KC been doing that for a while now too
March 30th, 2025 at 7:58 pm
B Says:
March 30th, 2025 at 5:45 pm
Tomlin takes his team to the playoffs every year (but last) and his fan base hates him as well. I wonder what they have in common…
—-
Neither one of them needed to rely on an artifical crutch to make them one of only 32 men in the entire world to hold the position of a NFL head coach. You would do well to remember that.
March 30th, 2025 at 8:23 pm
@Joe
Fun fact: Neither Pete Carroll, Mike Tomlin nor John Harbaugh have all won Superbowles!!!!
You can set fire to meaningless NFC South paper championships that go nowhere in postseason.
Wow man, just wow.
March 30th, 2025 at 8:24 pm
Forgot to remove the word Neither.
That’s what I get for copying and pasting Joes nonsensical gibberish.
March 30th, 2025 at 8:45 pm
B Says:
March 30th, 2025 at 5:45 pm
Tomlin takes his team to the playoffs every year (but last) and his fan base hates him as well. I wonder what they have in common…
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Tomlin is a terrific HC. He has coached Pittsburgh forever since Bill Cowher retired, and has never has a losing record. Pitts has needed to find a QB to replace Roethlesberger. They should have gone after Mayfield when he was a free agent. Glad Baker stayed with Tampa. Baker is going to be in huge demand after 2025 season. Tampa will probably renegotiate Mayfielld so he isn’t at risk of leaving after 2026. The 2025 season will be huge for Baker. Anticipate 45TD 10INT and 4500 Yrds. Bucs didn’t resign Evans and Godwin to be run blockers.
March 30th, 2025 at 8:46 pm
Obvious is really pi$$ed off. It is true that a certain percentage of our contributors and some pundits say Bowles is on the hot seat every year. He was on mine a couple of years ago. Not anymore.
March 30th, 2025 at 8:48 pm
Winning in this division by the skin of their teeth is nothing to crow about.
March 30th, 2025 at 8:51 pm
Josh
My biggest beef is that he DOESN’T have his team ready to go, hence the two mid season slumps the last two years.
Don’t even get me started on DB’s please.
March 30th, 2025 at 8:59 pm
Some would do well to remember that Bowles was GIFT WRAPPED the job and DID NOT earn it. Some would call THAT “artificial” unless you call the success he had with the jets a resume to be proud of ….
I could go on and on but I’m hoping beyond hope that this man has grown some guts and somehow acquired the instincts of a winner instead of the constant “turtle strategy and poor decision making” to the point of a very unwise loser….
The man DOESN’T know when nor how to hold them or fold them. From prevent defense WAY TO EARLY instead of keeping the petal to the metal Especially against strong teams to leaving multiple CRUCIAL players in to get severely damaged when games are FAR out of hand! He just doesn’t know what he’s doing and he has PERSONALLY lost us games. And he’s getting A LOT of guys hurt FOR NOTHING…….
We can do better than Bowles. After ALL of this time if this man hasn’t figured it out by now and he repeats this all AGAIN……… WELL……
March 30th, 2025 at 9:00 pm
Guys!!!???
What is with all the hate and all the love for Coach Swiss Cheese in your comments?
Coach Swiss Cheese isn’t even mentioned in the article.
The article is about the rarified air that our team will be in, if we win the division title again this year.
Look, I am no fan of Coach Swiss Cheese.
I do not hate him.
I do not dislike him.
Very simply, I do not respect him.
For many, many reasons.
But, he deserves his fair share of the credit for our SB victory and our division titles the past 4 years.
Fair enough that our division isn’t that great (sucks), and that a division title is peanuts compared to a conference championship or SB victory.
But, it’s a team effort, and that includes Coach Swiss Cheese.
And it’s still some rare air that our team will be floating in, if we win the division for the 5th straight time.
P.S.
(Coach, please for the love of g@d, do something about those mile-wide holes in the secondary that are big enough to land a 747 in, and stop being so gosh darned STUBBORN all the time).
March 30th, 2025 at 9:27 pm
Haha the Bowles battle will rage for another year.
Very cool the success and fun to be a fan of a run like this and it shouldn’t stop. Bucs at + money for division win is getting hit before the draft.
As most of you probably know… I give most of that credit to Licht, his scouts and front office and of course the players. Bowles has played a part with his players loving him and keeping a solid culture in the locker room. He has cost this team 4-6 wins over the last 3 years, that’s not disputable imo. We should find out this season if he is capable of coaching a couple playoff wins.
March 30th, 2025 at 9:27 pm
It’s hard to win in the NFL where basically anything can happen on or off the field
March 30th, 2025 at 9:27 pm
Todd Bowles is a good coach, with an opportunity to be considered a very good coach, but not a great coach, IMO.
He is a defensive minded coach who (shocker) expects his defense to keep the team in close, low scoring games,
The problem is that he is coaching a team that has spent much of the past 10 years building an offensive powerhouse. (Does anyone remember the “weapons for Jameis” slogan)
All indications are that he is going to get some serious talent upgrades for his defense this year. We’ve already started the process in free agency.
If his defense can get a few more stops this year, and I don’t mean holding them to a field goal, we might actually be able to outscore (the name of the game) more of our opponents.
There IS a chance.
March 31st, 2025 at 12:26 am
The first person who knows he’s lucky to have this streak is the coach himself. The defensive mastermind has watched as his head coaching duties confuse his ability to coach defense — and not admitted it, other than to suggest he’s gone into the lab…..
We shall see.
March 31st, 2025 at 2:13 am
B Says:
“Tomlin takes his team to the playoffs every year (but last) and his fan base hates him as well. I wonder what they have in common…”
That they are NFL Defensive Head Coaches?
Because if you are referring to fan based hating them because of skin color, you are wrong.
Out of 32 teams, probably 26-28 fan based hate their coaches. Possibly more. And most of them are not persons of color.
That’s just how NFL fans are.
For the record? Mike Tomlin is one of the few defensive head coaches I respect.At some point, the Steelers are going to be dumb enough to fire him. He won’t have to take a demotion position when that happens.
It’s possible that if we had been able to get him as a head coach after Gruden, Tonkin would still be our HC.
March 31st, 2025 at 7:25 am
We are free of JTS he tried hard yet I see a brilliant future for him in tights figure skating to 🎶(Time to Say goodbye) 🎶 Andrea Bocelli’s english version of 🎶 “Con te partirò”, 🎶 with Sarah Brightman. Of he goes on to jave success after he only focuses on rushing rather than being a corner back im going to be irate. 4 in a row KINGS OF THE SOUTH 🏆 🏆 🏆 🏆
March 31st, 2025 at 11:04 am
Bowles isn’t my favorite but he’s far from the worst head coach we’ve had here. The players clearly love the guy and their opinions are the ones that matter, so until they quit on the guy (ain’t going to happen) he’s our head coach until he retires. The Bucs are a good football team. Fans are dumb in general, especially here. I have been watching and listening (thanks NFL blackouts) to the Bucs since 1992 and it’s always the same thing, Fire the head coach and The backup quarterback should be starting. Same dumb a$$ takes, different generation…or maybe it’s just the same idiots that are now old farts.
GO BUCS
March 31st, 2025 at 3:45 pm
Drunkinybor Says:
March 31st, 2025 at 7:25 am
We are free of JTS he tried hard yet I see a brilliant future for him in tights figure skating to 🎶(Time to Say goodbye.
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You know the end is near for JTS. The worst organization in the NFL picked him up—The Cleveland Browns.