For the first time this decade, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers do not control their playoff destiny entering the final Sunday of the regular season.
Even though the Bucs were able to snap a four-game losing streak and end the season with a win over the Panthers, they'll need help in order to keep their historic NFC South reign alive. Tampa Bay needs a New Orleans victory over Atlanta in order to win the division, otherwise the Panthers will snatch the crown away with an 8-9 record.
That's not exactly something to pride yourself on, which is sort of the point. The Bucs' chances of winning the division are slim, and they only have themselves to blame for that. Like a high schooler cramming to turn in their paper before 11:59pm the day it's due, the Bucs finally showing up with a win in Week 18 is the type of procrastination that gets a team burned this time of year.
No matter what you think, the bus doesn't wait for you when it's on its own schedule. Tempt fate at your own risk.
If Tampa Bay ends up missing the playoffs, how that ends up happening might be perhaps the most fitting way for this particular season to end.
The Buccaneers missing the playoffs on a tiebreaker technicality is perfectly fitting
What makes this all the more frustrating is the fact that we shouldn't even be here. The Bucs roared out to a 6-2 start to the season, with Baker Mayfield playing at an MVP level and Emeka Egbuka looking like a lock for Rookie of the Year.
Ever since Week 7, the Bucs have been in utter shambles. That loss to the Lions forced the wheels to come flying off in ways we haven't seen before, mostly due to how unable the team was to screw them back on.
In each of the last two seasons the Bucs have slipped into midseason comas, but they found a way to endure. This time, not so much; Tampa Bay lost eight of its last ten games and coughed up control of its own destiny.
All the Bucs needed to do was win two of its final five games, but ended up losing ever single game in December. The four game losing streak mercifully ended in Week 18, but it feels like a case of too little too late.
Despite beating the Panthers, the Bucs can lose the division crown on a technicality. That's how a half-decade of dominace will come to an end, and truthfully it's perfectly fitting for how this season has gone.
The Bucs have lived on the razor's edge all year, but managed to not get nicked through the first half of the year. That loss to the Lions -- one that came under the bright lights of primetime -- pushed them to the other side and they've been getting sliced up ever since.
Nothing has gone right, from the defense blowing massive plays to allow teams to remain in close games, to an offense with weapons like Mike Evans, Emeka Egbuka, and Bucky Irving being incapable of mustering up any fire power.
It's frankly been embarrassing, which makes the way the Bucs will likely miss the playoffs fitting. They played with fire and got burned, and mess around with their own food long enough that it got moldy. Perhaps they'll still make it into the playoffs, and nobody who actually likes the team should be actively rooting for any other outcome, but it's fair to say it won't feel great.
Tampa Bay has the talent and had a path to be in the tier of teams like the Seahawks, Bears, and Rams, but instead failed to measure up when it counted. Now mathematics, not X's and O's, will determine whether the team makes the playoffs and the dull way the Bucs might miss the playoffs couldn't sum up this lackadaisical season more perfectly.