For the first time this decade, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are not ending the season as NFC South champions. It's also the first time since 2019 that the team didn't qualify for the playoffs, ending the most successful run in franchise history.
Not exactly the way anyone wanted to celebrate the team's 50th season.
In a vacuum, the season couldn't have ended in a more fitting way. All the Bucs needed to do was win two of their last five games but ended up losing four straight in December. Even after beating the Panthers in Week 18, Tampa Bay's fate came down to a game between the Falcons and Saints.