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After 13-year playoff drought, Bucs carry hopes of their last NFC championship team

TAMPA, Fla. -- This Sunday, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers return to the NFC Championship Game for the first time in 18 years when they play the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field (3:05 p.m. ET, Fox), and nobody is more excited about it than the 2002 Buccaneers who came before them and were the last Tampa Bay team to get there.

Those Buccaneers defeated the Philadelphia Eagles 27-10 to win the franchise’s first and only NFC championship en route to a 48-21 Super Bowl XXXVII victory in San Diego. They watched from afar as this season's team first reached the playoffs for the first time in 13 years and then last week defeated the New Orleans Saints 30-20 in the NFC divisional-round game.