Buccaneers No Longer Control Their Playoff Destiny

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ struggles continued with a heartbreaking 20-17 loss to the Miami Dolphins, extending their losing streak to four games. This latest defeat drops the Bucs to 7-9, guaranteeing a losing regular-season record.

The Carolina Panthers’ chances of clinching the NFC South title were dashed with a 27-10 loss to the Seattle Seahawks. Now, the Panthers face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a winner-take-all game for the division title next Saturday in Tampa.

There’s a scenario where the Bucs beat the Panthers but still miss out on the division title.

Via Fox Sports Greg Auman, 

“So Bucs and Panthers both down 10 in final five minutes — if they both lose, the NFC South comes down to Bucs-Panthers in Tampa next weekend. The one catch? If Falcons win their two remaining games, then Panthers win the NFC South regardless, winning a three-team tie.”

The Atlanta Falcons are currently 7-9, while the Carolina Panthers are 8-8. If the Falcons beat the Saints and finish 8-9, and the Buccaneers beat the Panthers, all three teams would be tied at 8-9, creating a three-way tie for the NFC South title.

The three-way tiebreaker would come down to head-to-head record. Carolina leads with a 3-1 mark, having swept Atlanta and split with Tampa Bay. Atlanta’s record is 1-3, with a split against Tampa Bay and a sweep by Carolina. The Buccaneers are 2-2, having split with both Atlanta and Carolina.

The BR Rub

This is what we’ve been warning people about for awhile now. This Buccaneers team under Todd Bowles fails time after time with pulling away in a bad division. This is further proven by the fact that every year Bowles has been head coach of the Bucs they’ve needed help from another team to win the division. Look it up.