If the Bucs fail to make the playoffs, it will be the biggest choke job in franchise history.

The Bucs are on the verge of missing the playoffs. And that would be unsettling.

The Bucs need to win Sunday against Oakland and then hope Philadelphia beats Dallass later Sunday. If either the Raiders and/or the Cowboys win, the Bucs are toast.

If the Bucs win and the Cowboys win, the Bucs will miss out on the playoffs despite having a 10-6 record. In fact, that would be a continuation of a frightening fad that seems to have picked up this decade.

Since the playoffs were expanded in 1990, only five teams have won 10 games and missed the playoffs. If the Bucs and Cowboys win, the Bucs would be the sixth team to win 10 games and watch the playoffs at home, and the fourth team in the last six years to do so, as Chris Harry of the Orlando Sentinel points out.

Here are the NFL’s previous 10-win losers:

2007: Cleveland (10-6) — Lost division title tiebreaker with Pittsburgh and wild-card tiebreakers against Tennessee.

2005: Kansas City (10-6) — Jacksonville and Pittsburgh got wild-cards at 11-5, with Pittsburgh going on to win the Super Bowl from the No. 6 seed.

2003: Miami (10-6) — Denver won wild-card tiebreaker over Dolphins.

1991: Philadelphia (10-6) and San Francisco (10-6) — Chicago and Dallas got wild cards at 11-5.

If the Bucs win and fail to make the playoffs, as Harry points out, it will be the worst choke job in franchise history.