These Bucs are a long way from the Super Bowl
Two years ago, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers rode an eight-game winning streak all the way to a Lombardi Trophy, winning their last four regular-season games and three straight playoff games on the road before becoming the first team in NFL history to win the Super Bowl in their home stadium.
Watching them play Sunday, it’s clear just how far removed this year’s Bucs are from that championship team.
Most of that title team is still on the roster, but after a crushing 20-18 loss to a Pittsburgh Steelers team that was riding a four-game losing streak, Bucs head coach Todd Bowles had a clear message for anyone on his team who still might be riding on shine of that ring.
“I think guys that are living off the Super Bowl are living in a fantasy land,” Bowles said.
(Photo by Joe Sargent/Getty Images)
Not only did the Bucs resemble anything but the team that won their last Super Bowl on Sunday, but they look just as far removed from being able to make a similar run this season.
The offense still can’t move the ball consistently, and it’s still not converting red-zone trips into touchdowns. The defense still can’t stop giving up third-and-long conversions, nor put together four quarters of high-level play.
No, these Bucs are 3-3, and barely look mediocre enough to deserve even that mark.
Perhaps this loss can prove to be the 2022 version of the 20-19 defeat Tampa Bay suffered on the road against a lackluster Chicago Bears team in 2020, a defeat that inspired a three-game winning streak that started with a blowout win over Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers the following week. Maybe it can galvanize a locker room that’s missing some key leaders from that championship team.
Bucs fans will be hoping that something good can come out of it, because there wasn’t much good to be found on the field Sunday.
If they want to get back to the promised land, Tampa Bay has tons of questions that need to be answered in every phase of the game, or Tom Brady’s legendary NFL career could end with more whimper than bang.
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