NFL Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tampa Bay Buccaneers Can Still Win NFC South

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By @davidrumseynfl

Linebacker Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

Some years, maybe most, being 2-8 after Week 11 would mean being mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. However, even the though the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have only won twice this season, not only are they still alive in the playoff race, they are just two games out of first place in the NFC South. After two surprising home losses for the New Orleans Saints, the division is up for grabs, and yes, the Bucs are in the mix.

At the beginning of the year, it looked like 9-7 would be good enough to win the South. Then it started to seem like 8-8 might be the mark. Now it actually looks like one bad team could win the division at 7-9. Whichever team survives might join the 2010 Seattle Seahawks in having the dishonor of earning a home playoff game with a losing regular season record.

That could be some good luck, though. If you remember, those Seahawks took down the Saints in a crazy game that saw Marshawn Lynch almost cause an earthquake.

To be honest, the Bucs probably will be luck to finish the season 6-10, and even that might be a stretch. So saying the will wind up as NFC South Champs is definitely a little far-fetched. That doesn’t mean we can’t speculate, though. Let’s say 7-9 is good enough, how can the Bucs get there and make the playoffs?

The Bucs have already lost to the Atlanta Falcons twice this year, meaning they would lose a tie-breaker, so in order for the Bucs to come out on top, Atlanta would have to finish 6-10 or worse. The Falcons could absolutely finish out the season 2-4, seeing as they haven’t beaten any teams outside the division and only have two division games remaining.

There are various complicated scenarios in which the Bucs could be tied with the Carolina Panthers and/or the Saints at 7-9 at the end of season and somehow come out on top, but those are probably unlikely. However, seeing those two teams finish 6-10 and 6-9-1 isn’t too hard to imagine, as that would require the Saints to go 2-4 and the Panthers 3-2 over the season’s final weeks.

It would take an amazing run from the Bucs to pull this off, and they most likely would get beaten fairly handily in the playoffs, but other teams have gotten hot and won their last six or seven games in past years. The Bucs need to build some momentum the next few weeks to put pressure on the rest of the division.

It may sound crazy, but I believe the Bucs’ December matchups with the Panthers and Saints could actually matter.

David Rumsey is a Tampa Bay Buccaneers writer for RantSports. Follow him on Twitter, and Add him on Facebook or Google.

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