Today we’re exploring the five best Buccaneers teams since the 2002 Super Bowl. Do the 2016 Bucs make the list? Did any of these teams measure up to the standard set by the 2002 team?
For the last fifteen seasons the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have been chasing the ghost of their 2002 Super Bowl victory. They’ve suffered through countless personnel mistakes, bad hires at coach and general manager, and God knows how many unfortunate plays on the field. The ’02 Bucs set an incredibly high standard for future iterations of the team to match, and so far all have failed.
The Greg Schiano years were not particularly memorable for Bucs fans, nor were some of the Raheem Morris years. Bucs fans have been through a great deal of suffering since Jon Gruden held the Lombardi Trophy after the 2002 season. The fan base deserves a lot of credit for sticking around through a lot of lean years.
With that said, there have definitely been some quality Buccaneer teams in the years since the Super Bowl. Only two have made the playoffs, but several came close if not for some unfortunate circumstances. I compiled a list of what I view to be the five best Bucs teams since 2002, and ranked them from worst to best. Let’s take a look, starting at five.