Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (colloquially known as the Bucs) are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) South division. They joined the NFL in 1974 as an expansion team, along with the Seattle Seahawks, and played their first season in 1976 as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) West division.

Before the 1977 season, Tampa Bay switched conferences and divisions with Seattle, becoming a member of the NFC Central division. The Seahawks eventually rejoined the NFC in 2002, meaning the Buccaneers joined the Cleveland Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Baltimore/Indianapolis Colts as the only NFL teams not playing in their original conference. As a result of the league's realignment before the 2002 season, the Buccaneers joined three former NFC West teams to form the NFC South. The team is owned by the Glazer family and plays its home games at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.

The Buccaneers have won two Super Bowl championships and, along with the Baltimore Ravens, are the only two NFL franchises that are undefeated in multiple Super Bowl appearances. They were regarded as a perennial losing franchise for most of their first two decades due to suffering 26 consecutive losses in their first two seasons (including a winless inaugural season) and 14 consecutive losing seasons from 1983 to 1996—the most in NFL history—contributing to their league-worst overall winning percentage of .410

Despite these early struggles, Tampa Bay is the first post-merger expansion team to clinch a division title, win a playoff game, and host a conference championship, all of which they accomplished by their fourth season in 1979. The team's image improved by the time of their first championship in 2002, also the first for any of the six organizations built after the merger, but they would not win another playoff game until their second Super Bowl championship season in 2020. In 2024, the team tied the New Orleans Saints for the most NFC South titles with seven. The 2024 season also set franchise and division records with four consecutive division titles as well as five consecutive playoff appearances.

History

Hugh Culverhouse era (1976–1994)

John McKay years (1976–1984)

The Buccaneers joined the NFL as members of the AFC West in 1976. The next year, they were moved to the NFC Central, while the other 1976 expansion team, the Seattle Seahawks, switched conferences with Tampa Bay and joined the AFC West. This realignment was dictated by the league as part of the 1976 expansion plan, so that both teams could play each other twice and every other NFL franchise once during their first two seasons. Instead of a traditional schedule of playing each division opponent twice, the Buccaneers played every conference team once, plus the Seahawks.

Tampa Bay went 0–14 in their first season. They were outscored by an average of almost 21 points per game. Only three games ended with the Buccaneers within one possession. Until the Detroit Lions in 2008, the 1976 Buccaneers were the only Super Bowl-era team to go winless in a whole season. Their losing streak caused them to become the butt of late-night television comedians' jokes. Tampa Bay did not win their first game until the 13th week of their second season, starting with a record of 0–26 (though the Buccaneers had beaten the Atlanta Falcons, 17–3, in a 1976 pre-season game before their first regular season). The Saints' head coach, Hank Stram, was fired after losing to the Buccaneers. Their first win came on December 11, 1977, on the road against the New Orleans Saints in Week 13. Tampa Bay needed one more week to get their second victory, a home win over the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1977 season finale. The Cardinals also fired their coach, Don Coryell, shortly afterward.

The Buccaneers improved to a 5–11 mark in 1978. The team boasted a strong defensive unit that finished seventh in points allowed. The team was competitive in numerous close games. The Buccaneers' situation improved rapidly in the 1979 season. With the maturation of quarterback Doug Williams and future four-time Pro Bowl tight end Jimmie Giles, the first 1,000-yard rushing season from running back Ricky Bell, and a smothering, league-leading, Star Studded defense led by future NFL Hall of Famer Lee Roy Selmon, the Buccaneers kicked off the season with five consecutive victories, a performance that landed them on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

With four games left in the season, the Buccaneers needed to win only one of them to make the playoffs. In the first, STP was put all over the goal posts in Tampa to prevent the goalposts from being ripped down in the event of a celebration. Four blocked kicks later, the Buccaneers wasted the oily substance, falling to the Minnesota Vikings 23–22. STP was wasted again the following week as the Buccaneers were shut out 14–0 by the Chicago Bears; and in O. J. Simpson's final home game in San Francisco, Tampa Bay lost its third straight attempt to clinch a division title against a 49ers team which came in with a 1–13 record. However, in the season finale at home against the Kansas City Chiefs, which was played in the worst downpour in Buccaneers history, Tampa Bay pulled out a 3–0 victory. Finishing with a 10–6 record, the Buccaneers had their first winning season in franchise history, and won the Central Division in a tiebreaker over the Bears. In an upset, the Buccaneers defeated the Philadelphia Eagles 24–17 in the divisional round of the playoffs. Because the Los Angeles Rams defeated the Dallas Cowboys in the other NFC playoff game, the Buccaneers hosted the NFC Championship Game the following week in Tampa. The Buccaneers lost to the Rams 9–0. In their fourth season, the Bucs seemed on the verge of fulfilling McKay's five-year plan. The Buccaneers regressed in 1980 and finished with a 5–10–1 mark.

The Buccaneers made the playoffs again by winning their division in the 1981 season. It came down to a thrilling final game at Detroit; the winner would take the Central Division crown and the loser would miss the playoffs. The Detroit Lions had not lost at home all season. Although the Buccaneers trailed early, an 84-yard touchdown bomb from quarterback Williams to wide receiver Kevin House and a fumble recovery for a touchdown by defensive tackle David Logan sealed the win for the Buccaneers. In the playoffs, the Cowboys defeated the Buccaneers, 38–0, in the divisional round. The loss remains the largest postseason shutout loss in franchise history.

The 1982 season started 0–3 for the Buccaneers, before a player's strike shut down the NFL for seven weeks. When the league resumed play, the Buccaneers were nicknamed the "Cardiac Kids" for winning five of their next six games, all in the final moments, to go 5–4 and qualify for the expanded playoff slate. In the first round, the Buccaneers once again faced the Cowboys at Dallas, losing 30–17. As it turned out, this would be the last winning regular season under Culverhouse's ownership.

Before the 1983 season, Williams bolted to the United States Football League in a salary dispute. The Buccaneers lost their first nine games of the 1983 season en route to finishing 2–14, the first of 12 consecutive seasons with at least ten losses—an NFL record. Included was the drafting of Heisman Trophy winner Bo Jackson with the first pick in the 1986 draft. Jackson had let it be known that he would never play a down for Hugh Culverhouse at Tampa Bay. Making good on his threat, he opted instead to play baseball for the Kansas City Royals and would later return for parts of football seasons with the Los Angeles Raiders. Along with Williams, who later was a Super Bowl champion quarterback for Washington, two other Buccaneers quarterbacks during this era led other teams to Super Bowl wins. Steve Young won with the 49ers and Trent Dilfer won with the Baltimore Ravens. In the 1984 season, the team went 6–10 in John McKay's final season.

Former Atlanta Falcons' coach Leeman Bennett was named head coach before the 1985 season. He led the team to consecutive 2–14 finishes in 1985 and 1986. Bennett was fired after the 1986 season. Ray Perkins was hired to be the head coach of the Buccaneers before the 1987 season. Perkins coached for the team for almost four seasons, getting fired during 1990 season. Under Perkins's tenure, the team won no more than five games in a single season.

Under Culverhouse, the Buccaneers were one of the NFL's more profitable teams during the 1980s; however, this was largely because he kept the payroll among the lowest in the league, hampering their ability to sign quality players. Attendance also sagged; at one point the Buccaneers went parts of three whole seasons without having a home game televised locally, and when they did it was more attributed to a strong visiting team with a large following in the area, such as the Chicago Bears or Green Bay Packers.

Hardy Nickerson, a future five-time Pro Bowl linebacker, signed as a free agent from the Pittsburgh Steelers. John Lynch, a future Pro Bowl, and Hall of Fame strong safety, was drafted in 1993. In the 1995 NFL draft the Buccaneers drafted two future Hall of Famers: Warren Sapp and Derrick Brooks. Pro Bowl Fullback, Mike Alstott, was drafted the next year in the 1996 draft.