The Lost Decade
February 5th, 2020
Bucs fans have grown accustomed to guzzling beer (Big Storm if they’re smart) to numb the pain of constant losing.
Joe likes to refer to the previous 10 years of the 21st Century as the “Lost Decade” for the Bucs.
The team had but two winning seasons. No playoffs. Horrible home record. A lot of lousy coaches. Complete braindead personnel decisions that a drunk in a bar knew better than to pull. Little to no accountability.
The icing on the cake? The slap in the face to fans changing from classic uniforms to those ugly costumes the team now wears.
Want to know one reason so many don’t like the Bucs? Because one glance at their alarm clock font uniforms and folks are immediately reminded of the worst part of the day: rudely awakened to go to work. Before the Bucs even take a snap, fans are angry on gamedays.
It seems the Bucs made only two correct decisions in the whole decade: hiring Bruce Arians and installing digital video boards in the stadium.
Over at The Athletic, Bob Sturm decided to rank each team’s worth in the pecking order of best NFL franchises in history. He uses a point system to determine this list. Ironically, the Bucs were one of two teams that did not earn one point due to their play in the past decade.
No. 24 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Last year: No. 24Total: 24 points
(Established 1976)
The Bucs were another 1976 expansion team, along with the Seahawks, but they have not had anywhere near Seattle’s success once you get past the fact they have both won a single Super Bowl. Unlike Seattle, which sits 16th in this study, Tampa has only a small period in time where they were a real power: 1999 through 2002, when they ultimately broke through to win it all in San Diego at Super Bowl 37. Since then, the number of coaches and false dawns continue to mount. Bruce Arians is currently attempting to get his squad in order, but they appear to have a ways to go. Being one of only two franchises to not score a single point this entire decade shows just how far they currently have to climb.
Total playoff years: 79C, 81, 82, 97, 99C, 00, 01, 02S, 05, 07
Playoff years: 10 | Final Fours: 2 | Super Bowl losses: 0 | Super Bowl wins: 1
Last Decade: 0 points
Average: 0.55 points per season in 44 seasons of existence
Buccaneers win tiebreakers over Browns and Chargers based on Super Bowl wins, 1-0.
The other team with zero points the past decade in Sturm’s calculations? The Brownies.
This decade appears on an upswing, if for no other reason than Bucco Bruce Arians is on board. Beware, however. The Lost Decade began with the Bucs winning 10 games in 2010 and they have yet to match that win total.
February 5th, 2020 at 8:12 am
Depressing.
February 5th, 2020 at 8:17 am
The one constant….
Ownership after Malcolm.
February 5th, 2020 at 8:26 am
Malcom Glazer was a winner
but both of his sons….the Glazer boys are losers….those two billionaires could careless about how their little cash cow is doing just like how they ruined Manchester United soccer club.
Ownership is the Number One problem
February 5th, 2020 at 9:00 am
But but but….It’s NOT Winston’s fault!!
February 5th, 2020 at 9:09 am
bucs have 1 great year and 3 good years joe…. it’s been the majoirty of 4 decades this franchise has embarrassed the sport of football…. calling 1 year wonders legends has confirmed the ignorance of the small market fan base.
February 5th, 2020 at 9:12 am
its tough….
im a bucs fans until the day i die and my brothers cant understand why….lol….i couldnt understand why he wasnt a bucs fans but then i met a guy from new Orleans in his early 50s and i was surprised to learn he wasnt a saints fan…..lol….never was and never will be according to him…
but it all made sense after talking to him…..
to make a long story short, he explained the saints were the aints while he was growing up…..he grow up a cowboys fan…..that was the team winning back then he explained….no one wants to root for a losers…..same with my brother and his friends…..their mostly patriots fans, steelers fans, seahawks fans…..
we’re 8years apart so he really doesnt remember the bucs ever being good…..lol….his earliest memory of the bucs was when we had Cadillac williams toting the rock…..lol….
he doesnt remember seeing brooks, sapp, lynch……he doesnt remember dunn and marshall faulk going back and fourth in what was imo, the greatest bucs game ever(i was there lol)…..he doesnt remember barber closing out the VET…..
hard to become a fan if all you remember is losing….lol…
GO BUCS!!!!!!
February 5th, 2020 at 9:29 am
Owners can’t pick a competent coach or GM
Coaches and GM’s can’t pick a competitive roster
Players, coaches and GM get paid while hardworking fans lose their money
February 5th, 2020 at 9:32 am
Bucs were born to lose. I dont why anyone really thinks we gonna win anything is beyond me.
Just accept the Bucs are losers and nothing works out
We can draft a top future 50 prospect in JW …no dice
We can sign top free agents…. no dice
We can copy the eagles mode for pass rushing….didn’t work
We can draft a kicker in the 2nd round… our luck he will bust
We can try but we will still lose just accept it
February 5th, 2020 at 9:56 am
1979-1982 and 1996 to 2007…. the the rest is a complete and total disaster matched by no one in any sport. And Joe is right… a total slap in the face to go to the worst uniforms in the NFL. Go back to one of the previous 2.
February 5th, 2020 at 10:01 am
Lot of fashionistas angry about uniforms more so than the play on the field
February 5th, 2020 at 10:21 am
yes this franchise has been sad for many years. we are on the upswing but let’s move on. i know it is hard because we are used to being bad but this mentality keeps killing us. time to move onto 2020. this team will eventually rise from the ashes. imagine we were the jets?
February 5th, 2020 at 10:45 am
Just some it all up in one sentence here Joe..Its been a Buc Life Baby!
February 5th, 2020 at 11:14 am
Clueless owners, bad GMs, failed coaches, worthless free agents and poor drafting. This past year has been better thanks to BA. In BA I trust.
February 5th, 2020 at 11:17 am
Indeed.
February 5th, 2020 at 11:58 am
Our market has their share of problems. Fan attendance is dwindling and the losing is completely allienating a generation of young potential Buc fans. Kids want nothing to do with the Bucs. We are seen as a laughing stock.
If you got kids in elementary school just ask their friend about the Bucs. There is one common responce. “The Bucs Suck”…….it hurts to get clowed by an eight year old. Unfortunately they are correct.
February 5th, 2020 at 12:06 pm
Shouldn’t it be three final fours……’79,’99,’02
February 5th, 2020 at 12:09 pm
@Joe
You just had the best rant in a long time here…
“Because one glance at their alarm clock font uniforms and folks are immediately reminded of the worst part of the day: rudely awakened to go to work. Before the Bucs even take a snap, fans are angry on gamedays.”
I always knew I loathed these uniforms…now I know why!
February 5th, 2020 at 12:16 pm
Tampa need owners who care about football and who wants to win. I don’t know how you can run a franchise that is the laughing stock of the NFL. Where is the sense of shame and embarrassment?
February 5th, 2020 at 12:20 pm
Owners are pure garbage. I hope they read this. Do an ownership poll Joe…I bet everyone dislikes them.
February 5th, 2020 at 12:31 pm
Thanks Joe for not saying drafting Winston was a good decision.
February 5th, 2020 at 1:17 pm
“we are on the upswing but let’s move on. “…………..We just incurred another losing season haven’t won a playoff game since ’03, and the next season hasn’t started. How could this team be on an “upswing?” Wake up candy britches.
February 5th, 2020 at 1:42 pm
Team is not on any upswing. No playoff win since ’03 and another losing season. What metrics translate to an upswing babycakes?
February 5th, 2020 at 1:48 pm
I watch ESPN and the NFL network and on football related topics you can go for days without news pertinent to the Buc’s. It’s the small market fickle fan base and the simple fact that most people are from somewhere else and follow their hometown team. We have great weather, a beautiful stadium, but a losing team that for multiple reasons can’t win. I am not being sarcastic when I say the odds of losing as much as we do over time is more difficult to achieve than winning more games. You would actually have to try to lose to have our record. All the bitching I read on these local sites only serves as unhealthy stress and huge negativity. While I feel sorry for the few die hard optimist, it is what it is and it won’t change until it does.
February 5th, 2020 at 2:04 pm
Glazers need to be forced to sell.
It’s perfectly fine with me if they move the team
February 5th, 2020 at 2:08 pm
P.S.
Football in Tampa is nothing more 16 weeks of frustration followed by an off-season of unfulfilled dreams.
February 5th, 2020 at 3:15 pm
TheBucsAnthem Says:
“Malcom Glazer was a winner but both of his sons…. could careless about how their little cash cow is doing…”
.
.
I’m pretty sure there’s 3 sons. Or 3 1/2.
Actually, Malcolm supposedly had 6 kids. I’m just talking about the ones I’ve seen. Joel, Bryan, the one with the pony tail (black sheep?), and Darcy.
February 5th, 2020 at 4:58 pm
813bucboi. Great post. Totally agree. Been here 17 years and for the most part all I have seen is lousy football and trash on the field. Still, I care and keep hope alive.
February 5th, 2020 at 7:09 pm
813,
Yup!
Ronde closed to vet, and we opened the Lincoln Financial Field w a win too! Take that Eagles! Fitzmagic and DJax roasting them in 2018 made me happy too.
February 5th, 2020 at 7:12 pm
The London game this year was incredible. I was shocked by the first pass of the game. I was mad at the next 2 picks and back to back fumbles. I was embarrassed to be watching. And I was embarrassed for the team.
However, I was not surprised because it was right out of the Jameis playbook circa 2018 @ Cincinnati.
February 5th, 2020 at 7:50 pm
The Glazer’s picked out the alarm clock number’s because they have no idea what it’s like to wake up to an alarm and work a hard day in there entire lives.
February 5th, 2020 at 8:39 pm
Cry me a river fellas… I started watching, well listening since all the home games would be blacked out, to the Bucs in 86, but even before then was kinda/sorta a fan as a kid. But as a kid, going from 86-97, that was an eternity, in particular since you never had anything better than 7 wins that entire time and there was zero hope – until the end of 96.
One thing I will say however is when you do stick with a team this long, and you see it build, and then suddenly get good – man does it feel good. Take the Lightning for example, they’ve been good for a long time – you expect them to be good – to make the playoffs. But with the Bucs, to finally get there, that feeling was electric, in particular since the team was built in house.
Next year, assuming the Bucs don’t do anything stupid like get rid of Winston, I’m saying they go 11-5. I’ve never picked them better than 9-7 since 2003, so I’m not your boring homer fan that thinks they’re going to the playoffs. Two years ago I think I said 6-10, last year I said 7-9. I’m super excited about what is coming. This team was a kicker away from being 9-7, and a complete BS call away from being 10-6 – and that was with a horrific defense for basically half of the season.
Give me that late season defense with this offense, with our two all-pro WR’s back, and the late season Ronald Jones at RB – and we’re in fantastic shape. If you’re not excited by that, it’s just because you’re a triggered dope who can’t see past their hatred of Winston and have yet to accept the results of the 2015 draft.