Sunday’s game against the New Orleans Saints could well be the final game that Dirk Koetter coaches for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. On Tuesday, Koetter was asked if the rumors were distracting. His response was refreshingly honest.
“Of course,” Koetter said, via ESPN’s Jenna Laine. “It’s your life, it’s your life. It’s what you do. So just flip it around. Of course it is. But we all as players and coaches, we’re paid to do a job and you try to do it to the best of our ability. That’s all you can do.”
The 2017 season has been a complete disaster for Tampa. In 2016, the Bucs narrowly missed the playoffs and were a trendy pick to at least qualify for the postseason in 2017. Instead, the Buccaneers enter Week 17 at 4-11 and will finish in last place in the NFC South by a comfortable margin.
Additionally, the season has included some rather ugly incidents. A Week 16 loss to the Carolina Panthers included a Jameis Winston outburst on the sideline, as was as players confronting defensive tackle Chris Baker after the game. Earlier in the year, Mike Evans was suspended for a game after he punched New Orleans cornerback Marshon Lattimore.
But despite those incidents, Koetter does not feel he’s lost control of the team. When asked about that, the coach reportedly (per Laine) “chuckled, smiled and said, ‘That’s not a fear of mine.'”
Frankly, that’s a little hard to believe.
The poor record alone would be enough for Koetter’s job to be at risk. Still some of that can be attributed to injuries and maybe a young team believing it was better than it really was. It wouldn’t be unprecedented for a team to have buzz going into one season, play poorly, and then do well the next. That’s essentially what’s happened to the Jacksonville Jaguars over the 2016 and 2017 seasons.
But the ugly on and off-field incidents are a different story.
Heck, looking at the Seattle Seahawks, it’s fair to wonder if Pete Carroll has lost control of that team. And Seattle has made five straight postseasons, could still make a sixth straight appearance, and has won two NFC Championships and a Super Bowl in that run. Tampa, meanwhile, hasn’t made the playoffs since 2007. So, Koetter doesn’t get any benefit of the doubt that may be offered to Carroll.
Certainly, it would be well out of character for a coach to come out and acknowledge that he’s lost control of his team. But if Koetter is being honest, that has to at least be a concern.