A historic collapse, blown leads, and a heartbreaking defeat extinguish the Buccaneers' playoff hopes. Tampa Bay's season ends not with a bang, but a whimper.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers needed help to win the NFC South, and they didn’t get it.
Had the New Orleans Saints beat the Falcons in Atlanta on Sunday, Tampa would have won the division for the sixth season in a row.
But the Falcons pulled out a 17-19 victory, and finished the regular season with the same 8-9 record as the Bucs and the Panthers.
Because Carolina swept Atlanta and the Bucs only managed a split, the Panthers have the tiebreaker, and thus have won the NFC South and are going to the playoffs.
The Bucs have nobody to blame but themselves.
At one point, the Buccaneers looked like a Super Bowl contender, with six wins in their first eight games and quarterback Baker Mayfield playing like an MVP.
After that, Tampa lost seven of eight games, with five of the losses by one possession and the two wins coming by a combined five points.
It’s fitting that the Falcons-Saints was the matchup that officially did the Bucs in, considering both of those teams played a big role in Tampa’s slide.
On Dec. 7, a 7-5 Bucs team hosted a 2-10 Saints and lost 24-20.
Four nights later, Atlanta handed Tampa its most devastating loss in a season that became defined by them.
Tied for first place in December and playing a 4-9 team already out of playoff contention, Tampa Bay had a two-touchdown lead in the fourth quarter.
With 1:20 left, Tampa had a 92.8-percent win probability. By the time the game was over, that probability was 0.0.
A 21-yard pass from Falcons QB Kirk Cousins to David Sills V put Atlanta at the Tampa Bay 36, needing just a field goal to win. Eventually, Atlanta -- aided by an offsides penalty -- drove to Tampa's 25, setting up Zane Gonzalez for a game-winning field goal.
That Week 15 loss invited a profanity-laced press conference rant from head coach Todd Bowles.
Although plenty of people will want Bowles to lose his job after the Bucs' collapse, it seemed unlikely, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
"The Buccaneers do not want to make a change," Schefter said on a recent Monday Night Countdown. "Now if they lose, things could change."
The Bucs ended up beating Carolina, but missing the playoffs. Will that change things?
It remains to be seen, but what’s clear is that the 2025 Tampa Bay Buccaneers season was a failure.