What are the Buccaneers playoff odds after losing to 49ers in Week 10?

A tough road to the playoffs got a lot tougher thanks to yet another loss by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

For the fourth week in a row, the Bucs lost a heartbreaker, this time failing to close out a win after taking a late lead over the San Francisco 49ers. This comes after three straight weeks of nearly coming back to beat three of the best teams in the league, with the overtime loss to the Chiefs still stinging.

On Sunday, the Bucs let the Niners off the hook. After a masterful late drive by Baker Mayfield, Tampa Bay snatched defeat from the jaws of victory by allowing San Francisco to march down the field and kick a game-winning field goal.

The loss drops the Bucs to 4-6 and pushes them to the fringe of the playoff picture. It doesn't, however, completely take the team out as there's still a chance Tampa Bay can pull off another turnaround.

Buccaneers playoff odds plummet after fourth straight loss

According to the New York Times playoff predictor, the Buccaneers have a roughly 13 percent chance of making the postseason.

The good news is that the season is far from over, and it's not like we haven't seen the Bucs pull themselves out of a slump before. Last season the team reversed course amid a 1-6 losing streak that nearly sank the season, but there are other variables at playt which work against Tampa Bay in ways they didn't a year ago.

For starters, the Bucs are three games behind the Falcons thanks to a tiebreaker and Atlanta is a much better team than it was in 2023. Even with a surprise loss to the Saints, the NFC South runs through Atlanta for the time beind and the Bucs have a ton of work to do in order to catch up.

Making the playoffs as a Wild Card is a bit tough too. Tampa Bay trails Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, and just lost a head-to-head tiebreaker with the 49ers. While the Bucs have tiebreakers over the Eagles, Lions, and Commanders, all three are outpacing the Tampa Bay or in line to win their division.

It's a narrow path to the playoffs that continues to get trickier, but the Bucs have a chance to correct course in a big way out of the team's bye week. Tampa Bay gets three straight games against teams with a combined record of 7-22 and a .318 winning percentage.

Basically, if the Bucs can't find a way to easily beat the Giants, Panthers, and Raiders then they have no business being in the playoff picture. Wins against those teams would bolster Tampa Bay to a 7-6 record and get the team right back in the mix.

Things are dire, but the season is far from over.

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