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Todd Bowles apparently doesn’t believe in miracles.
The Buccaneers coach defended what seemed like a bizarre decision to not use his final timeout during Sunday’s 31-23 divisional round road loss to the Lions despite having an opportunity to get the ball back.
“They already had a field goal lined up and it would’ve been about 12 seconds left on the clock to end the ball game, we weren’t going to come back from that,” Bowles told reporters Sunday after the game. “No point in prolonging the obvious.”
While Bowles is right in saying his decision likely would not have affected the game, it’s odd that he didn’t even attempt to give his team a chance with its season on the line.
It’s not as if the Lions just needed to kneel to win the game, like in the 49ers’ 24-21 victory over the Packers on Saturday night when Packers coach Matt LaFleur didn’t use his two final timeouts with less than 40 seconds remaining.
Detroit would have needed to convert a long field goal to ice the game, which is far from a determined outcome as seen in the Bills’ loss to the Chiefs.
It’s possible the Buccaneers could have gotten the ball back either pinned back deep in their territory or potentially near midfield.
It seems that Bowles instead chose to stick with his plan not to take the timeout, even after the Lions snapped the ball with time left on the block.
The Lions had the ball at the Buccaneers’ 29-yard line with 1:33 remaining in the fourth quarter after Baker Mayfield threw an interception with a chance to tie the game.
Tampa Bay had one timeout remaining, meaning it could, at best, have the fourth-down play happen with about seven seconds remaining should each play take no more than two seconds.
When Bowles did not call a timeout after the first kneel, the Lions then kneeled again with 1:06 remaining in the game instead of using the full 40 seconds.
The third kneel came with 36 seconds left in the game, another example of Goff kneeling with time left on the clock, and that’s where some thought Bowles could have used his timeout.
It’s possible the Lions snapped earlier in the clock to react to the Buccaneers not using the timeout, but Bowles dismissed any aspect of chivalry among coaches.
“Not a gentleman’s agreement,” Bowles said Monday. “They were in field-goal range, they had 12 seconds calculated after using that timeout to come back from it, then we would’ve been down 11 points, it’s kinda pointless. You kinda know when the game is over. The game was over.”
Former Giants running back Rashad Jennings called out Bowles for not taking a timeout in that moment.
“As an NFL player, this makes zero sense,” Jennings said. “Make that make sense. I see why people say the NFL is rigged — it’s absolutely not — but this is the type of stuff, when you have this kind of mental error as a staff, somebody should see this.”
While it’s fair to criticize Bowles, the Lions likely would have run different plays had the head coach used his first timeout after the first down play.
The Lions may not have just settled for kneel-downs, and they surely would not have snapped the ball with plenty of time left on the clock.
All that being said, it’s fair to wonder why Bowles didn’t at least give his team a chance — even if it’s one in a thousand — of possibly sending the game to overtime.
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