NFL.com drops a brutal playoff prediction for Buccaneers

Last season the Tampa Bay Buccaneers wildly out performed expectations, much to the delight of fans who were sick of hearing the team get dunked on by experts.

After losing Tom Brady, the Bucs were predicted to be among the worst teams in the league and tank for a top draft pick. That didn't happen, and after a season where Tampa Bay went to the NFC Divisional Round, the uncertainty everyone felt this time last season feels like a distant memory.

The disrespect, however, is as fresh as it's ever been.

Despite winning the NFC South for a third straight year and punching yet another playoff ticket, the Bucs are being talked about much in the same way they were last season with only marginal improvements on how they're viewed by the national media.

Buccaneers predicted to miss the playoffs for first time this decade

NFL.com released its pre-Week 1 predictions for how the season will go, and didn't have great things to say about the Bucs. While Tampa Bay finishes in second-place in the NFC South, the team's streak of making the playoffs comes to an end in the eyes of the experts.

This isn't entirely surprising, as it's been the narrative around the Bucs all offseason. Rather than spend on free agents other teams couldn't bring back, Tampa Bay went to work re-signing key players who helped their turnaround last season.

Somehow, this is being held against the Bucs, as the Atlanta Falcons signing Kirk Cousins was enough to put them over Tampa Bay in the eyes of experts and pundits. Not everyone is down on the Bucs, but the general consensus seems to line up with what NFL.com is predicting: Tampa Bay won't be bad but won't be good enough.

It's not anything the team hasn't dealt with before. They were up against a negative narrative last season and the same thing is the case again this year. The only difference is that there's the weight of expectation that the team didn't have a year ago, but proving experts wrong seems to be the fire that fuels everything the team does.

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