It was a bumpy ride all season long, but for the fourth straight year, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have been crowned NFC South champions. A win over the Saints in Week 18 did the trick and also means the Bucs have punched a ticket to the playoffs for the fifth year in a row.
As Anakin Skywalker once said, this is where the fun begins.
Nothing was pretty about how the Bucs punched their ticket, but then again, style points don't count toward the final score. If anything, the way the team persevered through adversity that would have crippled a lesser team should be celebrated as the Bucs navigated truly choppy waters all year to get to this point.
Every single key player missed time this year due to injury: Baker Mayfield and Bucky Irving only missed small portions of games while Mike Evans, Antoine Winfield Jr., and Tristan Wrifs all missed weeks. Chris Godwin has been on IR since October after suffering a season-ending injury while SirVocea Dennis and Jordan Whitehead are both also out for the year.
Despite this, the Bucs stayed true to their bend-don't-break mentality and managed to win the division with a roster held together by bubblegum and duct tape. It's an earned division title too, as Tampa Bay turned in a 10-win season for just the 10th time in franchise history and the first time since 2021.
Now the real challenge beings as the Bucs have gotten to the playoffs and need to make good on the noise everyone thinks they might make.
Buccaneers playoff schedule: Wild Card Round opponent, TV schedule and more
Thanks to winning the division, Tampa Bay will be hosting a playoff game next weekend, but it was unclear who that would be up until the end of the day. Two games impacted how that could look, as the Rams-Seahawks game determined which seed the Bucs would get.
A win by the Rams would have locked the Bucs into the No. 4 seed, but thanks to Seattle pulling out an upset win Tampa Bay moves up to the third seed. This is key because it means avoiding a matchup with either the Vikings or Lions in the first two rounds of the playoffs, and means the Washington Commanders will come to Tampa Bay for Wild Card Weekend.
Buccaneers Wild Card Weekend Schedule
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Washington Commanders
- Date: Sunday, January 12, 2025
- TV Channel: NBC
- Start Time: 7:30 pm ET
It will be the second meeting between the Bucs and Commanders this season, as one of these two teams will end their season where it began. Tampa Bay headed up to Washington for Week 1 and now the rematch takes things to Raymond James Stadium.
The matchup won't be easy, as Jayden Daniels has put together an incredible rookie season, and the Bucs will see a much better version of him than they saw at the beginning of the season.
Here's the rest of the Wild Card Weekend schedule:
- (2) Philadelphia Eagles vs. (7) Green Bay Packers
- (3) Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. (6) Washington Commanders
- (4) Los Angeles Rams vs. (5) Lions or Vikings
Date | Game | Time (ET) | TV Channel |
|---|---|---|---|
Sat., 1/11 | Texans vs. Chargers | 4:30 pm | CBS |
Sat., 1/11 | Ravens vs. Steelers | 8:00 pm | Amazon Prime |
Sun., 1/12 | Bills vs. Broncos | 1 pm | CBS |
Sun., 1/12 | Eagles vs. Packers | 4:30 pm | FOX |
Sun., 1/12 | Buccaneers vs. Commanders | 7:30 pm | NBC |
Mon., 1/13 | Vikings/Lions vs. Rams | 8 pm | ABC/ESPN |
It's a fantastic draw for the Bucs, who get one of the more favorable first round matchups and get it with some extra rest. However, Tampa Bay playing in primetime is never a good mix which is going to cause some anxiety throughout the week as we all prepare for what lies ahead.
As has been the case all season though, the Bucs should win this game as the superior team. The question is whether or not they'll make it harder than it needs to be. Something else to keep an eye on is the health of key players like Cade Otton and Antoine Winfield Jr., neither of whom have played the last few games.
If the Bucs are at full strength they should be able to win, but at the very least we know when the fifth straight first round playoff game the team will be playing in will go down.
More Tampa Bay Buccaneers news and rumors