The Day After the Bucs Missed the Playoffs

I've been a Bucs fan since 2002, which is coincidentally they same year they won the Super Bowl. On occasion, I have been accused of being a bandwagon fan because I got into football the year they won the Super Bowl, but I've been with them every year since and I've watched them regardless of their record. I was there in 2004 when they went 5-11, I was there in 2008 when I watched the team go from 9-3 to 9-7 (they had a chance at the Number 1 seed and missed the playoffs completely), and I was there last year when they went 3-13 during Raheem rebuilding. So I've seen the good and the bad (albeit not the worst) Tampa Bay has to offer.

As much as I played down the idea of the Bucs making it into the playoffs, I was really excited when they beat the Saints. But my dreams of the scrappy, young-upstart team going all the way was crushed when both Green Bay and New York won their games (Tampa needed both teams to lose to make it as the 6th seed). And now all the Bucs have to show for the 10-6 season is 20th pick in the draft.

I'm not angry that Tampa won 10 games. I'm honestly surprised. I was hoping for an 9-7 season and was expecting an 8-8 reality. But I got way more than I expected. It just really sucks that Seattle, a 7-9 team who Tampa Bay beat 38-15, is going to the playoffs. It's garbage.

Now I know that the Bucs probably had too many injuries at key positions to make a lot of noise in the playoffs, but they already blew my regular season expectations out of the water. A fan has to hope right?

Well, here is hoping for next year.