The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have won four consecutive division titles but haven't been able to close the deal in the postseason, bowing out before the NFC Championship Game each season since Tom Brady led them to a Super Bowl win in 2020.
Bucs head coach Todd Bowles would like to see his club get that "killer instinct" in the playoffs that could help them reach the next level.
"I feel good that we know how to win," Bowles said Tuesday from the NFL's Annual League Meeting. "I don't feel good about us finishing the season from a playoff aspect, and [in] the middle of the season, having a drought two years in a row. We've got to be better from that standpoint -- from a coaching standpoint, from veterans holding everybody else accountable standpoint, which they do, but we've got to do a lot more of that. We've got to play not even better football at the end, but we've got to have killer instinct. We've got to try to blow people out and try to win the division instead of it going down to the last week."
Since Bowles took over for Bruce Arians, he's won three division titles but has gone 1-3 in the postseason. A midseason swoon and early playoff exit characterized each of those seasons.
To take the next step, the 61-year-old coach wants to see the mentality of his club change as they chase a fifth consecutive NFC South title.
"It's more accountability. It's more accountability in practice and competing against each other," he said. "It's not a coach thing -- they can hear me talk every day, all day up on the stage, but when they start talking to each other and start holding each other accountable from a vocal standpoint -- whether that's tough love or whether that's kind love -- either way, it gets our point across and how we approach games is important. You develop that through the spring and the summer through a chemistry standpoint to make sure you're getting your point across to have more competitive things in training camp or what have you and doing little things like that to help them along."
