Sadly, this is nothing new for the Bucs. It is, however, a first for head coach Bruce Arians.
When the Bucs fell 27-23 to the Titans Sunday in Nashville, Arians lost his third straight regular-season game for the first time six-plus seasons as an NFL head coach.
(Worth noting: Arians coached the 2012 Indianapolis Colts to a 9-3 record in place of Chuck Pagano, who was undergoing leukemia treatment. The NFL awards all those wins and losses to Pagano).
The only time Arians lost three straight as a head coach came when his Arizona Cardinals ended the 2014 season with a three-game losing streak _ the final defeat a 27-16 loss to Carolina in the NFL wild-card game.
This is also the first time he's been 2-5 as a head coach. His previous worst record through seven games was 3-4 in 2013, his first season in Arizona. Those Cardinals won seven of their last nine to finish 10-6 and barely miss the NFC Playoffs.
Arians, 67, came out of retirement in January and signed a four-year contract with a fifth-year team option to coach the Bucs.
The Bucs are 2-5 for the second time in three seasons. They last had a winning record through seven games in 2011, when a 24-18 loss to Chicago in Week 7 dropped them to 4-3 under Raheem Morris. It was the first of 10 straight losses that cost Morris his job.
