Bucs mess just can’t end well Martin Fennelly, The Tampa Tribune, published 14 October 2013 And then there was the game ... Games seem almost afterthoughts at this point, secondary to the galaxy of chaos where they live, far out in space, 0-5 seemingly weightless. Only 0-5 isn’t weightless. It’s the reality. It’s why Greg Schiano will have to go. Start the clock. 0-5 is the reality. So are 10 losses during the past 11 games across two seasons. Throw in six consecutive home losses after an average Eagles team beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 31-20 on Sunday. This won’t, and shouldn’t, end well for the head coach. Or Bucs general manager Mark Dominik. That’s the reality. It’s a debacle. I exclude the MRSA mess, which is no laughing matter. Schiano’s record, that’s a laughing matter. He can’t survive 0-8 if it gets that bad. I’d call this a circus, but I’ve stopped doing that out of fear of litigation that actual circuses might consider it libelous to be compared with the Bucs. Hey, don’t think guys with seltzer bottles don’t have lawyers. It’s the swirl that never ends. Another Sunday, another Schiano rumor, this time that the NFLPA thinks Schiano is the one who leaked Josh Freeman’s medical information. I don’t believe that. Schiano isn’t evil. He’s just a college coach in over his head. Also, if that rumor was true, Schiano would have been fired by the Glazers, on the spot, right? Right? “We’re not afraid of an investigation,” Dominik said Sunday. What Dominik should fear is an investigation into his record as GM: 24-45. Greg Schiano is 7-14. That’s the reality. This season didn’t even need MRSA to turn into the Andromeda Strain. Still, is it really a good thing when a TV camera guy is wearing gloves into your locker room Sunday because he has an open cut on a finger? Is it really a good thing when Lawrence Tynes’ wife is sending a get-well tweet to Carl Nicks? Or when you have the guy from my new favorite acronym, DICON? And then there are the games. All that money spent, all that talent acquired, all these shiny new toys, and this franchise has gone and made messy in its pants. All the Bucs have are losses and rules, rules and losses, and that’s on Shawshank Schiano. I don’t see how he lasts the season. Where’s the hope right now, Mike Glennon or no Mike Glennon? Where? Maybe Dave Wannstedt and Butch Davis can flip a coin to see who finishes it out. Sounds crazy, I know. But what kind of crazy hasn’t happened with this franchise? “I’m confused, too,” Bucs defensive tackle Gerald McCoy said. “I don’t know. We have eight (Pro Bowlers), I think. I don’t know. I just get paid to play. I don’t know.” The Bucs have a $96 million defensive back, Darrelle Revis, and they’re 0-5. Revis was asked about his head coach’s future. “I really don’t know,” Revis said. “That can’t be my focus. That can’t be the team’s focus right now. We can’t control what management does. Management is going to do what’s best for the organization. At the same time, we’ve still got a season to play.” Whatever happened to ... “That’s crazy. Get out of here.” The Bucs are lost, and there’s no coming back, not with this coach, who can’t win close games (0-6 in ones decided by three points or fewer), is 1-0 against Josh Freeman, but now 0-2 against Nick Foles, and who demands trust from his players while not trusting them at all. At 0-5, or slightly beyond, is about when treating grown men as children begins to boomerang. The Glazers must be beside themselves, which means there are now two Eds. I’m sure they don’t want to make a change midstream, pay two head coaches at once. They’ve traveled that road. They won’t have a choice at this rate. This franchise is a mess. And then there are the games.