Todd Bowles had “very little” consideration about hitting a two-pointer after the late touchdown

Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles opted to force overtime against Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs instead of going for a two-point attempt. He made a bad choice.

Bowles said after the 30-24 overtime loss that he briefly considered making the two-point attempt to take the lead.

“Very minor. We wanted to make it to extra time,” he said in the official minutes. “Given the wet conditions on the pitch, we wanted one extra time instead of two. We had our chance and lost the game.”

Bowles was asked if anyone in the locker room suggested he go for two.

“No, we decided on one. We took our shots,” he said. “We had our chances throughout the game. It didn’t matter.”

Ultimately it came to a coin toss in overtime, which Tampa lost. In these wet conditions, the Chiefs drove down the field and scored a TD that ended the game.

The Bucs scored a touchdown with 27 seconds left, so it's reasonable to assume that even if the two-point attempt had been successful, Mahomes might have had enough time to get into field goal range and score the To win in regular time. Bowles didn't cite that as a reason for not trying to take the lead.

The thornier issue than the decision not to go for two was Tampa's timeout with 33 seconds left after Trey Palmer was tackled at the 1-yard line. This stoppage ensured that Mahomes got another chance in regulation rather than the Bucs completely controlling the end of the game. At least let the Chiefs use a timeout to save time. Instead, Tampa called their final timeout, making their final play calls obvious and saving Mahomes time.

The entire drive should have been planned so that Mahomes did not give the ball back in regulation time or overtime. On rare occasions, it was possible for Tampa to have that option. Instead, a coin toss decided.

It's admirable that Bowles trusted his defense to stop him. Considering how the Chiefs rolled through them for most of the game, he should have relied more on his offense in those final seconds to pull off an upset on the road against the undefeated defending champions.

Chiefs coach Andy Reid was asked after the win if he was surprised Bowles didn't go for two.

“No, but I'm glad he didn't,” Reid replied.

If your opponent is happy with your decision, it's probably a bad one.