Last season, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers hit the midway point with a 3-5 record and a lack of consistency on both sides of the ball. In the second half, the Buccaneers won six of their eight games to get within a lost tiebreaker of the playoffs. At some point along the way, the team developed a clearer idea of what it was at its core, and that helped sustain a five-game winning streak.
The 2017 Buccaneers would need a win in New Orleans on Sunday to match last year's 3-5 midpoint record, but they are working hard to achieve the same sort of turnaround they managed last year.