It was the second straight 9-7 season for coach Jon Gruden, who has now failed to reach the postseason four times in the past six years. He also hasn't won a playoff game since Super Bowl XXXVII.

Gruden's offense during his seven-year stint in Tampa Bay ranks 25th in scoring.

Yet, there is no sign that the Glazer family, which owns the Bucs, has any intention of making a drastic move involving Gruden or general manager Bruce Allen, who signed extensions through 2011 at the end of the 2007 season.

Gruden is pinning the four-game losing streak on injuries, and to some extent, the announcement by defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin that he was going to join his son, Lane, at the University of Tennessee at the end of the season.

That decision coincided with the first of four straight losses and Kiffin now says he regrets the timing of it.

But Kiffin should not be made the scapegoat. Tampa Bay has too many 30-something players, particularly on defense, that wear down the final month of the season. That's why the Bucs are 10-20 in December and January since 2002.

But talk long enough to Gruden and he'll try to convince you that the Bucs have a plan and are headed in the right direction.

"I feel good about the nucleus of the offensive line. I really do," Gruden said. "I still think Earnest Graham is a prime football player. He was going to have a big year for us. He proved that. Antonio Bryant is for real. He's the real deal. We found a receiver, which is something that we've been looking for here, who can run all the routes, play in all the games and be an every situation-type guy. So there were some real bright spots.

"(Quarterback Jeff) Garcia has kept us in the playoff hunt two years in a row. We'll deal with that here in the offseason. Defensively, we have to take a good look at the four final games of the season and see what occurred and why it happened. Again, I take full responsibility for it."

Gruden said he was as shocked as anyone at the collapse of the defense but recognized injuries to defensive tackles Jovan Haye and Chris Hovan and safety Jermaine Phillips contributed to the Bucs' inability to stop the run. And Tampa Bay has not developed depth at those positions through the draft.

"There are a lot of areas we've got to get better at," Gruden said. "We've got to get better. You don't go 11 games where you don't give up a rushing touchdown, basically, to the final four games where I think three different backs went for 160 yards or more. Injuries took its toll on us. We've got to get more pass rush. We've got to get more turnovers. You can't start at the minus-20 every series and expect to have great success. We've got to take a look at every area, really. We've got to take a look at our running back situation. We've got some injuries there that are obviously going to impact the direction that the Buccaneers go. Again, we've got to look at every area, really."

At some point, the Bucs have to develop a young quarterback. It's been seven seasons and Gruden only has rookie Josh Johnson, a fifth-round pick from San Diego, as a prospect. Gruden, however, is very defensive about his unwillingness to turn the offense over to a young quarterback.

"I say I started Bruce Gradkowski for 11 games," Gruden said. "I started Chris Simms for 19 games. I don't know about that. I've been in situations where Rich Gannon was the quarterback. When we acquired him, he was 34 years old and I had to make the best of that situation. And I came here and Brad (Johnson) was here and I made the best of that situation. I tried to develop Shaun King. So did some other teams in the league. It didn't work out. I did my best. We got a lot out of Chris Simms. If feel like he played pretty good football here. But the perception and the reality, those are two different things.

"I'll just keep doing the best I can developing and working with the quarterbacks that we can accumulate and put on our football team. Josh Johnson is a guy we're working hard with. We think he does have some redeeming qualities. We think Luke McCown is a young guy who has ability and he's played well at times here. There's a lot of teams in the league now that are in similar situations that we are. It's a hard process. But I'll say this, Garcia has played as well as a lot of guys in football since he's been here."