Chronic Problem Plaguing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2025: Six Straight Years of Getting Torched Through the Air and Still No Fix

Ever since Tom Brady hung up his cleats after the 2022 season, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have been trapped in a bizarre spiral: the offense keeps getting more explosive, while the pass defense… acts like it doesn’t exist. For six consecutive years — from 2019 to the present — the Bucs have finished better than 21st in the NFL in passing yards allowed exactly once. In 2025, they currently rank 4th-worst in the league, surrendering 247 passing yards per game. That number isn’t just a statistic; it’s a public confession.

"I don't have any more excuses left," veteran cornerback Jamel Dean said after last week’s loss to the Saints, when Derek Carr casually threw for 312 yards while being blitzed exactly three times. "We practice, we watch film, but when we get out on the field... it's the same thing all over again. It's like we're cursed."

Cursed or not, the truth is brutal. The safety duo of Antoine Winfield Jr. and Jordan Whitehead remains elite when attacking the line of scrimmage, but in deep coverage both look a step slower than last year. Young corners Jacob Parrish and Tyrek Funderburke — the team’s second- and third-round picks in 2024 — are currently playing like true undrafted free agents. Pro Football Focus has graded Parrish below 50.0 in coverage in three straight games. Meanwhile, slot corner Christian Izien has been torched so often on burner routes that Todd Bowles had to move him outside — and things somehow got even worse.

"We don't lack talent," head coach Todd Bowles said during Tuesday’s press conference, his voice hoarse from screaming into his headset all game. "We're lacking cohesion. And sometimes I wonder if I'm over-coaching." That comment left the entire room silent for five seconds — a new season record.

The biggest irony of all: the offense is playing its best football of the post-Brady era. Baker Mayfield has thrown for over 300 yards in five straight games, Mike Evans is still a 1,000-yard machine at age 32, and Chris Godwin plus Jalen McMillan form the most dangerous outside-wide receiver duo in the NFC South. But it’s only enough to… break even. The Bucs are averaging 29.1 points per game yet sit at just 6-6 because opponents are scoring 30.4. That’s the formula for pure waste.

History keeps repeating itself until it’s nauseating. 2019: 30th. 2020 and 2021: 21st both years despite a Super Bowl. 2022: 9th, thanks to Brady masking everything. Then 2023 and 2024: 29th two years running. And now 2025 is on pace to match the sad record. GM Jason Licht and Bowles have sunk more than $80 million in cap space into the secondary since 2022, yet the result is still the same gaping holes in pewter and red.

Next up: the Raiders, then the Chargers, then the Cowboys — three teams whose quarterbacks love to air it out deep. If Tampa doesn’t cure this chronic disease in December, the 2025 season will end exactly like three of the last six: a beautiful offense, a shredded defense, and thousands of fans wondering why the organization still refuses to fix what’s been broken since 2019.

The illness has been diagnosed for years. The problem is nobody has the courage to operate.