The Tampa Bay Buccaneers continue to struggle, despite improving the level of young talent on both sides of the ball in the past few years. The Buccaneers enter this Sunday’s game at New Orleans on a four-game skid and sit at 2-5 overall.

A caller to the JoeBucsFan radio show addressed the Buccaneers’ struggles on Friday, November 3. He asked Tampa Bay head coach Dirk Koetter whether or not the culture of losing that was alluded to last season still lingers. Koetter replied that he thought that the team kicked it last season, but there remains some concerns.

“Here we are on this losing streak,” Koetter said. “And, you know, I don’t want to believe it’s culture; I really don’t. And I’m around these guys every day. But at the same time we have lost four in a row; you can’t hide from that. I want to believe that’s not what the reason is because we’ve worked very hard to overcome that.”

Koetter cites the the four-game skid as evidence of the team’s struggles, and he makes a good point. During that stretch, the Buccaneers have lost only one game by more than a touchdown. Tampa Bay competes with their opponents. The statistics show they work hard, but the Buccaneers still fail to translate that into wins. Koetter continued:

“But until you overcome it consistently, and I’m a part of that, so I’m not trying to point a finger at anybody else. I’m a part of that, all the coaches are and the players are as well. I hope that’s not what it is, but I don’t have a steadfast answer as to what it is right now other than the one thing that definitely shows up on tape is we’re just not playing consistent enough across the board.”

Koetter’s comments will likely make some Buccaneers fans feel a bit queasy. However, they also exhibit a coach honest enough to be authentic with the paying customer. Unfortunately, it’s the paying customer that the Glazer family will keep in mind if Koetter and his coaching staff don’t find the answer sooner rather than later.