Through the first six weeks of the season the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had been able to weather the storm of living on the edge, but on the seventh week luck rested.
Much like the loss to Philadelphia earlier in the season, the Bucs dug themselves an early hole and never found a way out. Late game heroics are great until they don't work, which is what happened on Monday night in Detroit.
It's a loss that not only stings but sends the Bucs tumbling down the NFC playoff picture. Coming into the night Tampa Bay had control of the No. 1 seed, but that's not gone and in possession of the Green Bay Packers.
Updated NFL Playoff Picture after Buccaneers drop to 5-2 in loss to Lions
The good news is the Bucs had a bit of a safety net that prevented the fall from being worse than it could have been. While they no longer sit atop the NFC standings, Tampa Bay only fell to the No. 4 seed and are still in the thick of the hunt.
Here's where things sit now that the dust has settled on Week 7:
Playoff Seed | Team | Record |
|---|---|---|
No. 1 | Green Bay Packers | 4-1-1 |
No. 2 | San Francisco 49ers | 5-2 |
No. 3 | Philadelphia Eagles | 5-2 |
No. 4 | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 5-2 |
No. 5 | Detroit Lions | 5-2 |
No. 6 | Los Angeles Rams | 4-2 |
No. 7 | Seattle Seahawks | 5-2 |
If the playoffs were to start today -- and thankfully they don't -- here's what the first-round matchups would be:
- (2) San Francisco 49ers vs. (7) Seattle Seahawks
- (3) Philadelphia Eagles vs. (6) Los Angeles Rams
- (4) Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. (5) Detroit Lions
Getting out to hot starts and then falling into midseason slumps has been an unfortunate trend for the Bucs over the last few seasons. After the loss in Detroit we're ripe for yet another one of those given how tough the schedule gets after Tampa Bay's bye week.
The Bucs get the Patriots at home before flying to Buffalo and then Los Angeles for games against the Bills and Rams. It's an absolute gauntlet, and one that the team might not have Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, or Bucky Irving for.
That's the flip side of the coin, though. As rough as Monday's loss was, the Bucs are still 5-2 and in the Top 4 of the NFC playoff picture despite missing essential players from their lineup. We're not even to the midway point of the season yet, so there's still a lot of football left to be played and plenty of time for the Bucs to mount the type of comeback we've seen them make a staple out of so far this year.