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What do the Bucs have left to play for? More than you think

Nearly every team in the hunt for the final NFC wild-card berth lost Sunday, meaning the Bucs can salvage something if they win the final three games.
 
Published Dec. 10, 2018

TAMPA— So what exactly do the Bucs have to play for now?

Everything.

Cue the eye rolls and head shakes. Of course it sounds ridiculous after the 28-14 loss to New Orleans Sunday that dropped the Bucs to 5-8.

Even if they win their remaining games at Baltimore, at Dallas and home against the Falcons, they would finish as a .500 team. But in the quagmire of mediocrity that is the NFC, 8-8 may actually earn a wild-card playoff berth.

That's because so many teams in front of the Bucs keep losing. The Vikings, who entered Monday night's game at Seattle with the projected final playoff spot, are 6-5-1.

The Panthers (6-7-0), Eagles (6-7-0) and Washington (6-7-0) all lost Sunday. The Packers are next at 5-7-1 as the projected 10th seed in a six-team playoff.

The Panthers still have to play the Saints twice. Washington on Sunday will start its fourth quarterback, Josh Johnson, and the Eagles are a super disappointment.

Dirk Koetter has to convince his team that they have life until the math no longer works. But on Monday, the Bucs were still feeling crummy about blowing a 14-3 halftime lead and failing to score after a sack/forced fumble by Carl Nassib to start the third quarter. They hated watching a replay of the block punt, the two missed field goals, the lousy blocking and all those penalties that cost them a season sweep of the Saints.

Whereas some coaches may have put the standings on the video screen Monday and shown a path to the playoffs, Koetter is more of a process guy. He stuck to his routine of going over mistakes and missed opportunities.

If you're Koetter, you are coaching for your job. If the Bucs can get on a modest three-game winning streak to end the season — and they haven't won three games in a row since December 2016 — that would be five wins in their final six games. There's no shame in losing to the Saints (11-2) when you're one of only two teams to beat the NFC South champs.

Plus, the Bucs still have the NFL's No. 2 ranked offense and its best passing offense.

Unfortunately, they also have a saloon-door offensive line that betrayed Jameis Winston. The Saints sacked Winston four times and hit him on 10 other occasions.

"Today's Blame Monday and usually the quarterback and the O-line get the most blame when things don't go right,'' Koetter said.

"We just didn't play very good on offense, period. We had three explosive plays in the first drive of the game and we only had three more the whole rest of the game."

Winston, of course, has a lot to play for, too. Who knows if the Glazer family which owns the Bucs has already determined he will return in 2019?

If you're the defense, you're playing to show you're not the same unit you were under fired defensive coordinator Mike Smith. The Bucs forced two more turnovers Sunday, giving them eight in the past three games.

"Both those teams had under 300 yards of offense,'' Koetter said. "You wouldn't have guessed that going in.''

If you're Cairo Santos, you're playing to show you're the reliable guy who made his first 15 kicks (all 13 extra points and three field goals) and deserve a job here next season.

"Just like I'm not putting any more blame on anybody else, Cairo has to make those kicks. He knows it, I know it,'' Koetter said.

Even if the Bucs were to win their last three games, decision time is coming later this month. On Winston. On Koetter. On general manager Jason Licht. But for another week, the Bucs still have life. They still have something to play for.

Contact Rick Stroud at rstroud@tampabay.com. Follow @NFLStroud