The Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ season took a turn for the worse in the waning minutes of their 41-31 loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Monday night when Chris Godwin went down after suffering a scary injury.

On a third-and-long with a little over a minute remaining in the game, Godwin was tackled and hurt his lower leg on a play that was too gruesome for ESPN to show on the broadcast. Godwin reportedly dislocated his ankle and will undergo surgery this week with the expectation that he’ll make a full recovery for 2025.

Amid an emotional outpouring of support for Godwin, some fans don’t think he should have been on the field in the first place. The Buccaneers were down 10 points in their own red zone with no timeouts and only about a minute to get down the field. They would have needed a touchdown or a field goal, a successful onside kick and then one more score to tie or win the game. 

Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles told reporters in his postgame presser that Godwin wanted to be in the game, along with the rest of the Bucs starters, to try to complete the late comeback.

Fans have just one question for Bowles: What did it cost?

ESPN analyst Ryan Clark, however, chose to play the devil’s advocate:

More of the Latest Around the NFL


This article was originally published on www.si.com as NFL Fans Ripped Todd Bowles’s Decision to Play Chris Godwin Before Late Injury.