Monday night didn't exactly go the way Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans were hoping, but it wasn't a total loss.
It was an actual loss, though.
After starting the season out 2-0, the Bucs ran into a buzzsaw in the form of the first good team they've faced. Week 1's upset win over the Vikings is still impressive from the stand point of the Bucs proving offseason doubts wrong, but it grows less impressive the worse the Vikings look. The same can be said for the team's victory over the Chicago Bears, a team that might end up with the No. 1 pick in back-to-back seasons.
Philadelphia is an infinitely better team than both Minnesota and Chicago combined, a fact the Bucs learned the hard way on national television.
As bad as things got in the middle of the game, the Bucs ended up getting closer to the Eagles than most would have expected. Tampa Bay nearly led the game at one point, had it not been for a dropped touchdown pass by Mike Evans.
When your best players are making mistakes, losses are easy to come by.
It's a loss that stings in the immediate aftermath but hardly defines the Bucs season. Devin White reminded folks of that after the game, going as far as to make a bold prediction to ensure everyone stays focused.
Devin White says Buccaneers are 'going to the playoffs' after Week 3 loss
Playoffs? PLAYOFFS?!
Credit to anyone who read that in Jim Mora voice, but nothing White said after the game was in jest. The Bucs linebacker not only promised fans that the team would make the playoffs but would exact some revenge against Philly as well.
"We'll see them again," White said. "We're going to the playoffs and I'm saying that right now. It is what it is."
He also reference the Buccaneers and Eagles being in the same division as part of his reasoning, but we're going to overlook. White's heart is in the right place and it's clear that the loss wasn't some sort of backbreaking moment in the Bucs season.
#Bucs ILB Devin White says that the Bucs are going to the playoffs this season.
— PewterReport 🏴☠️ (@PewterReport) September 26, 2023
"We'll see them (the Eagles) again. We're in the same division. We're going to the playoffs and I'm saying that right now. It is what it is." pic.twitter.com/udk1pwxDYt
It's certainly bold, but it wouldn't be the first time the Bucs got their revenge in the playoffs. Lest we forget how the Saints swept Tampa Bay in 2020 only to lose in the NFC Divisional Round, and we all remember what happened to the Chiefs in the Super Bowl after boat racing the Bucs earlier in the year.
White is a leader in the locker room, so if he's feeling this way after the loss chances are so is everyone else. The Bucs didn't win and they lost pretty ugly, but the final margin was only 14 points. After a Mike Evans touchdown early in the fourth quarter it felt like there might be a comeback in store, but at the very least the Bucs went out on a higher note than it appeared they would earlier in the game.
That was the hope from those watching at home, so to hear White confirm that the loss is being used as motivation is tremendous validation.