The Tampa Bay Buccaneers' playoff hopes are completely out of their control in Week 18 despite the fact that they took down the rival Carolina Panthers on Saturday. Thanks to tiebreaker wackiness, the winner of the Atlanta Falcons and New Orleans Saints game will decide the No. 4 seed in the NFC.
If the Falcons win, a three-way tie atop the NFC South will land Carolina the No. 4 seed thanks to some head-to-head wins. If the Saints win, the Bucs will remain ahead of the Panthers and get yet another home playoff game.
Quarterback Baker Mayfield, like many fans, was not taking too kindly to the fact that he had to root for one of his most hated division rivals and hope that Kellen Moore's offensive brain would be good enough to get the Bucs into the playoffs.
Mayfield sat on his couch with his mouth agape, knowing that his playoff destiny was firmly out of his hands. Considering how the entire city of Tampa is doing the same thing at this point, Mayfield is channeling the spirit of millions of Bucs fans watching their team battle it out.
Bucs QB Baker Mayfield is stressed out watching Saints-Falcons decide playoff fate
Atlanta took a 10-7 lead into halftime, which is not the result that fans were hoping to see. A Kirk Cousins touchdown pass and a long field goal helped the lead expand to 13-7, which put even more pressure on Tyler Shough.
New Orleans is coming into this game without many of their heavy hitters, as names like Audric Estime, Evan Hull, and Dante Pettis are being counted on to make plays against one of the better defenses in the NFC. Rooting for that has to be difficult for Bucs fans to swallow.
Even if Tampa Bay makes to the postseason, which would be their second time in this decade winning the division with a below .500 record if the Saints can pull this off, the odds of a deep run are looking grim. Tampa will be taking on either the San Francisco 49ers or Los Angeles Rams, who will likely enter the game as the favorite.
Mayfield and the Bucs need to put aside their mutual hatred for the Saints for just one week, even though there's a very good chance that rooting for one of their hated rivals may not be enough to prevent Carolina from stumbling backwards into the postseason.