Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles blasted his players and challenged them to “look in the mirror” after his team blew a two-touchdown lead in the fourth quarter and lost 29-28 to the Atlanta Falcons on Thursday night at Raymond James Stadium.

The Bucs (7-7) lost for the fifth time in six games to fall a half-game behind the Carolina Panthers in the NFC South.

“You don’t make excuses,” Bowles said in an expletive-laden reaction. “You got to f—ing care enough where the s— hurts. It’s got to f—ing mean something to you. It’s more than a job. It’s your f—ing livelihood. How well do you know your job? How well can you do your job? You can’t sugarcoat that s—.”

After the Falcons cut a 14-point deficit to 28-20 on Bijan Robinson‘s 6-yard touchdown run with under 10 minutes left, Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield was picked off by Dee Alford on the ensuing drive. Atlanta then drove 67 yards for a score, missing the 2-point conversion to make it 28-26.

The Falcons forced the Buccaneers to punt and got the ball at their 30 with no timeouts and 1:49 to go. Facing a third-and-28 on their final drive, quarterback Kirk Cousins completed passes of 14 yards to Kyle Pitts Sr. and 20 yards on fourth-and-14 to David Sills V to set up Zane Gonzalez‘s 43-yard field goal as time expired.

Bowles called the loss “inexcusable” and put the onus on the Bucs’ players to execute.

“At this point you’ve seen everything in the season,” Bowles said. “The coaches have done everything they can do. This is a player-driven team in the last four or five weeks. You’ve got to execute, and they’ve got to hold each other accountable. As a coach, you can sit there until you’re blue in the face. Until they start holding each other accountable and doing the little things right — and that’s not everybody, you know, we’re talking about a small, select few. But the small, select few is what’s getting us beat. And until that happens, it’s not going to get right.”

According to ESPN Analytics, the Bucs’ chances of winning the NFC South fall to 35% if the Panthers win against the New Orleans Saints on Sunday; they rise to 76% if the Panthers lose.

Mayfield had all of his wide receivers available for the first time this season after six-time Pro Bowl pick Mike Evans and second-year pro Jalen McMillan were activated from injured reserve.

He shouldered the blame for Thursday night’s loss.

“This one is going to haunt me. It falls on my shoulders,” Mayfield said. “It’s not the defense’s fault. It’s my fault.”

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

It was a hard-fought NFC South matchup between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Atlanta Falcons on Thursday night, and the latter wanted to play spoiler.

The Falcons, who were eliminated from the playoffs last week, made it harder for the Bucs to win the division after a walk-off field goal by Zane Gonzalez in a 29-28 victory.

Tampa Bay is now 7-7 on the year, having lost their last two games, while the Falcons are 5-9.

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One of the big storylines coming into the game was the return of veteran receiver Mike Evans, who had been sidelined since Week 4 with a collarbone injury.

While many wondered if the Bucs would have him on a snap count, it didn’t seem that way as quarterback Baker Mayfield loved getting him the ball in this one. Evans finished with 132 yards on just six catches to lead the way for the Bucs in the pass game.

However, Evans’ impressive performance was nothing compared to Falcons tight end Kyle Pitts, who had a career game on “Thursday Night Football.” In the absence of star receiver Drake London, Pitts became Kirk Cousins’ favorite target on the night.

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The 6-foot-6 tight end had three touchdown catches and 166 yards on 11 catches, as he and Cousins found a quick connection early and it came in clutch late in the game.

After Mayfield was picked off by Dee Alford in a 28-20 game, Cousins and the Falcons’ offense had the opportunity to march down the field and tie the game, granted they scored a touchdown and had a successful two-point conversion.

Cousins, having found Pitts twice before, lofted a pass to his trusty tight end, who secured it and managed to stay in bounds for his third score of the night. Video review was needed to determine if he stayed in bounds, and while it appeared his elbow was out, his backside hit the turf in bounds at the same moment. With officials calling a touchdown initially, it was insufficient evidence to overturn the score.

Kirk Cousins of the Atlanta Falcons warms up prior to a game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium on Dec. 11, 2025 in Tampa, Florida. (Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)

But the Bucs were still up two, needing a big stop on the two-point play. They got just that, as Cousins was hurried and the pass went incomplete.

Mayfield, who had two touchdown passes in this game to Chris Godwin and Devin Culp, knew they could ice the game with a few first downs on the ensuing drive. But backed up on third-and-14, Mayfield was sacked at the two-minute warning.

Cousins didn’t have any timeouts to work with after getting the ball back, and it was an inauspicious start to the drive when he was strip-sacked and the game could’ve been over right then and there.

But the ruling was both the Bucs and Falcons had the ball, meaning the tie goes to the team who was on offense. That still set Cousins back to second-and-18, which turned into second-and-28 on a holding penalty that was accepted after an incompletion.

Cousins, though, used Pitts and David Sills V to get the yardage needed to keep the drive alive. The Falcons were in field goal range for Gonzalez, who eventually buried the 43-yarder for the win.

The Bucs were up 28-14 heading into the fourth quarter, but a defensive breakdown at the worst time cost them in the end.

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In the box score, Cousins was phenomenal in primetime, passing for 373 yards with his three connections to Pitts.

And we can’t forget about Bijan Robinson, the league-leader in scrimmage yards who totaled 175 (93 rushing, 82 receiving) on 27 total touches for Atlanta.

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