With a 1-5 record through six games, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will have to play lights-out football for the rest of the season to have a chance of getting back into the division race. 

Most teams would have zero chance of reaching the playoffs after starting 1-5. Luckily for the Bucs, they play in the weak NFC South. Eight wins won the division last year, and it’s possible eight wins will be good enough to take the South again this season. 

No team in the division has won more than 10 games since the 2021 season, when Tampa finished 13-4. 

The Carolina Panthers currently sit atop the NFC South at 3-2. The Bucs are 2.5 games behind. 

In any other division, the Bucs would be dead in the water. 

In this division, the Bucs still have a pulse. 

It may be a faint pulse, but it’s there. 

The problem is, Tampa hasn’t done anything to convince anyone it can take advantage of the current state of the division. 

The Bucs may not be able to salvage their season. In fact, the smart course of action for the team is probably to start looking ahead to the future. The trade deadline is about three weeks away. Tampa has at least a few players who could be dealt for valuable draft picks that would help jump-start the rebuild this team clearly needs to become a legitimate contender. 

However, Tampa’s next two games are against division opponents, including a Week 7 trip to Carolina to take on the division-leading Panthers. 

In Week 8, the Bucs return home to face the Atlanta Falcons, who are a game ahead of Tampa at 2-4. 

If the Bucs can somehow win both games, their outlook for the rest of the season will look at least a little brighter as the trade deadline approaches. 

Head coach Todd Bowles spoke about the importance of the next two games and understands that if his team is to pull off a miracle, it has to start now. 

Bowles is looking at these games as an opportunity for the Bucs to make a move against teams ahead of them in the standings.

"I mean, it's critical. It's a step to trying to get back in it. The guys that you've got to play are ahead of you right now, so it's going to be critical that we win these games."

Bowles has to look at the next two games as an opportunity for his team to get back in the division race.

If the Bucs can win both of these games, perhaps they can turn the season around.

Tampa is already in a giant hole. Four of the Bucs' first six games have been played at home, and they didn't win any of them. It may already be too late.

For the Bucs to have any hope, they must find a way to beat the Panthers. Carolina is playing very well right now. Quarterback Bryce Young is playing the best football of his career.

If Tampa can beat the Panthers, its season will have a bit of life.

If the Bucs lose, the probability of the organization beginning to make trades with an eye on the future may become reality.