The Buccaneers have never been an offensive juggernaut. There, I said it. That’s why the early season production of the offense had every Bucs fan ready to celebrate a whole lot of touchdowns in 2018. Historically, Tampa Bay’s success has been a strong defense and an offense that was asked to stay out of the way. Suddenly we had starting receivers at every position, the Beard pitching bombs, and a defense that was asked to “please stand by.” Could this be the new norm?
The Buccaneers have always hung their hats on the strength of their defense. Whether it was John McKay, 1979, and Worst to First, or Tony Dungy a long time ago and the Tampa Two, Tampa Bay has always been a bit defensive. This might have been the reason we were blindsided by the great Chicago Fire. No, not the one in 1871 that burned over 2,000 acres of land and devastated the citizens of Chicago. I’m talking about the one that took place last Saturday at Soldier Field that burned the Buccaneer secondary and devastated Buc Nation. Just as we were beginning to accept that 2018 would see the Buccaneers become an offensive powerhouse, the Bears put a lot of fizzle in our sizzle and made us look like a team that belonged toward the bottom of the power rankings and nowhere near the top.
The good news is that with no shortage of talent, this team might just come up off the mat swinging. Let us hope that as we head into the NFL version of purgatory known as the bye week, the real Buccaneers will stand up and we will like what we see.
