1979 Tampa Bay Buccaneers Season - Regular Season

Regular Season

The Buccaneers surprised the NFL by reeling off wins in their first five games, an accomplishment that left them as the season's last undefeated team and landed them on the cover of Sports Illustrated. It also put them in first place for good in the NFC Central. The team's youth became an issue later on, as they went into a late-season losing streak on the verge of earning their first playoff spot. It was felt that more veteran leadership would have helped the team during the stretch run. Linebacker Dave Lewis publicly stated that the team was "choking", while Selmon compared the difficulty of getting the playoff-clinching win to the difficulty of getting the expansion team's first win. After dropping three games in a row, of which winning any of the three would have clinched the division, McKay launched into an obscenity-laced tirade against reporters who called the team a "laughingstock" and "Chokeneers". Even against a schedule that featured only two opponents with winning records it took until the final game of the season for the Buccaneers to win their tenth game. A better conference record gave the Buccaneers the division win over the also-10-6 Chicago Bears. Of all NFC Central teams other than the Vikings, the Buccaneers became only the second to win the division since 1970, and the only one to advance in the playoffs. The Buccaneers were considered by many to be an unworthy division champion, even called "cheesecake champions" by opponents, until they advanced to the NFC Championship with a 24-17 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles. There, with several key players injured, they held the Los Angeles Rams to nine points, but were held scoreless on offense to end their season one game short of the Super Bowl.