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Todd Bowles And Hot Seat Chatter September 1st, 2026The “Heed the Call” gang believes Bucs coach Todd Bowles is walking a tightrope, perhaps without a net. The popular NFL podcast went through each NFL head coach to determine what it would take for said coach to get run. Yes, even guys like Sean Payton, Andy Reid and Sean McVay. When Bowles’ name came up, all seemed to agree Bowles must at least have a playoff appearance this fall to survive. Dan Hanzus, the former NFL.com analyst, scoffed when someone mentioned winning the division as a goal for Bowles, asking if the NFC South is “really a division?” Hanzus believes winning the NFC South really shouldn’t be valued, as any less-than-mediocre team could do it. “A slow start could signal doom for Bowles,” Hanzus said. Conor Orr had an issue with Bowles throwing last year’s offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard under the bus. “[Bowles] pulled the big lever,” Orr said. “He changed the offensive coordinator and, in effect, blamed last season on [Grizzard]. And then spent a first-round pick on a defensive player instead of help for the offense.” Orr added Bowles loading up on defense in the draft was a sure sign of “preservation mode.” Co-host Marc Sessler even remarked that Bowles could be part of a larger organizational housecleaning. Sessler suggested the Bucs are the same team every year — blah and average. Sessler also believes the Baker Mayfield contract hassle was bungled by the team. James Palmer pushed back on the housecleaning angle. “The collapse, if you talk to people in that building, it really was a lot of it, in their mind, we’ll see if it was right or wrong, but the health of Baker Mayfield,” Palmer said. “Like he could barely move from the number of injuries he was battling. “They believe [Mayfield’s injuries] played a big part in that collapse down the stretch. Obviously, they are saying that because they saw how well he played in the first half of the season which was borderline MVP-type of play.” As for Hanzus mocking the NFC South as a dreadful division (he’s not wrong), Palmer desribed winning the NFC South as “best trailer on the cul-de-sac in the subdivision.” Joe firmly believes there is an easy way for Bowles to stop folks from talking about his job security: Win games. Lots of them.