The Bucs take on quarterback Kirk Cousins and his Minnesota Vikings this Sunday at 1 p.m. at Raymond James Stadium, a key matchup that will likely be the deciding factor in what seed the Bucs get as one of the Wild Card teams in the NFC.
The Bucs are probably going to be without one of their “top” corners, Jamel Dean, as the former Auburn corner is doubtful with a groin injury, but the Bucs feel comfortable with sliding veteran backup Ross Cockrell into that position.
If they win this Sunday, they can try to claw their way back into that top wild card spot, currently held by the Seattle Seahawks at 8-4. The top wild card spot will get to face whatever awful team comes out of the NFC East (the Giants currently have the lead with a 5-7 record), making for an easy first-round matchup. The Bucs’ remaining schedule includes two games against the Atlanta Falcons (4-8) and a game against the Detroit Lions (5-7). The Bucs’ record against teams with records under .500 is 5-1, with the teams lone defeat coming at the hands of the Chicago Bears back in Week 5. The Bucs clearly can take care of business against subpar teams, as they should. TB12 is at the helm, and he knows how to take advantage of lesser teams better than anyone, playing in that putrid AFC East for all those years.
So, this is an important game. If the Bucs manage to beat the Vikings, they will likely win out the rest of the year and go 11-5. If they lose… well, let’s just say things could snowball and we could end up looking at a 9-7 team that narrowly makes the playoffs.
And an 11-5 record could get the Bucs the top Wild Card spot, but there are a lot of moving parts. The Seahawks’ only remaining tough game is against the Rams (they also play the winless Jets, Washington, and the injury-plagued 49ers, so those are probably wins)—a divisional matchup that could decide the NFC West—but then again the Seahawks did just lose a head-scratcher to the Colt McCoy-led Giants. So, who knows how they do.
Let’s say the Seahawks beat the Rams in that matchup though, and Seattles wins its other three games, thus giving them the division. Then the Rams would be the Bucs’ competition for the top wild card spot, and St. Louis’ schedule is a little tougher. The Rams do get the Jets, but their other two games are the Seahawks and the Cardinals, both incredibly tough division rivals. Those games are coin flips. But, if the Rams finish the season with the same record as the Bucs, and manage to lose to the Seahawks, the Rams get the tiebreaker due to their victory over the Bucs in Week 11.
Phew. That’s a lot of scenarios. Realistically speaking the Bucs will probably finish as the second Wild Card team and have to take on whoever comes out of the NFC West (either the Rams or Seahawks unless something miraculous happens and the Cardinals manage to pull it out). Not a great matchup for the good guys (that’s the Bucs, gang).
As for the Bucs-Vikings matchup this Sunday, I’d expect the team to come out with a chip on their shoulder. A lot of people (myself included) have taken them out of any Super Bowl predictions, and rightfully so. They have not played like the best team in the NFC up to this point. But, maybe that changes. Tom Brady does have quite a bit of experience with doing that thing where his teams win football games.
We’ll see what happens.
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This article appears in Dec 10-16, 2020.