The Tampa Bay Buccaneers' 2025 season is not unfolding in the same manner it did the last two years. The 2023 Buccaneers won four of their last five games to just edge out the New Orleans Saints for the NFC South title, and in 2024 they won six of their last seven to outlast the Atlanta Falcons and capture a fourth straight division title. The 2025 squad, in contrast, is currently riding a run of six losses in its last seven games and is a game back of the Carolina Panthers in the division hunt.
However, in another way, the Buccaneers are in a nearly identical situation as a year ago. After Week 16 in 2024, Tampa Bay was even with the Falcons at 8-7 and had already lost twice to Atlanta, which essentially put them a game back. The Buccaneers went into Week 17 believing they had to win their last two games in order to win the division. The 2023 Bucs didn't win the NFC South until the final weekend of the season, as well.
And now, in 2025, with two weeks left to play in the regular season, the Bucs believe they need to win both of their remaining games in order to pass the Panthers for first place. While there are scenarios in which the Bucs can lose to Miami this Sunday and still win the division in Week 18, the Bucs don't want to relinquish control of their own fate.
Baker Mayfield was/is the starting quarterback for all three of those teams. Knowing how he and his teammates responded at the end of the last two seasons has him confident they will find a way to achieve their goals again in 2025.
"Our back is against the wall," said Mayfield. "Pretty comfortable there."
It would be reasonable to wonder, of course, if the current iteration of the Bucs can duplicate the end games from the last two seasons, given its results since its Week Nine bye. Tampa Bay had a chance to wrap up the division earlier after their 6-2 start; having missed out on that opportunity, can they turn it around at this late date and still get the wins they need?
"Yeah, listen, we would love to be -- and I would love for us to be – in a different spot than we're in right now, don't get me wrong," said Mayfield. "We've been here before, and you can always rely on those experiences and take what you've learned and go from there, but I trust this group. It hasn't been our best play by any means, I know that, we all know that, but we can still accomplish everything we want to.
"Like I said, our goals are still right in front of us. Would we like to be in a different position? Yeah, we would have liked to close this thing out by now, but that's not where we're at, we have to win at Miami and then come back home. Our focus right now is doing everything we possibly can to find a way to win in Miami and see what happens from there."
Essentially, Mayfield is counting on the resiliency of his team and it's ability to overcome adversity. Much of that adversity this season has come in the form of mounting injuries, but that didn't stop the team from winning six of its first eight, including victories over playoff qualifiers Seattle, San Francisco and Houston. The Bucs have two more chance to prove they are that same team, and if they can win both they will be NFC South champs for the fifth year in a row.
"It's a long season," said Mayfield. "Everything we want is still right in front of us despite everything that's going on. We can win out, make the playoffs and still have our goals ahead of us. You have to endure the storm. It's the ups-and-downs of it and that's just how it goes."
