The Tampa Bay Buccaneers not only captured a fourth straight NFC South title on Sunday, but they also improved their overall position in the playoff standings and kept alive the possibility of two home games in the postseason.
While the Buccaneers secured their own playoff spot with a Week 18 win over the New Orleans Saints, the Los Angeles Rams had already clinched the NFC West title the Week before. That put the Rams into the third overall seed in the NFC playoff field coming into the final weekend, but a loss to the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday allowed Tampa Bay to leap them for that spot. Both the Buccaneers and Rams finished with 10-7 records but Tampa Bay won the tiebreaker for positioning based on a better record against conference opponents (8-4 to 6-6).
As the #3 seed, the Buccaneers will host a playoff game in the Wild Card round against the team that claimed the #6 seed. That proved to be Washington after the Commanders beat the Cowboys on Sunday to improve to 11-6. The two teams will play Sunday, January 12 at 8:00pm ET on NBC/Peacock.
The Buccaneers will be taking part in the playoffs for a fifth straight season, the longest such run in franchise history, but this is the first time in that span that they will start out as the #3 seed. They earned the top Wild Card spot in 2020 and, coincidentally, started their playoffs at Washington after the Commanders won the NFC East with a 7-9 record. The Bucs won the NFC South each year from 2021 to 2023 and in those seasons was seeded second, fourth and fourth.
Tampa Bay could still be at home for two playoff games. If they win next weekend and the second-seeded Philadelphia Eagles lose to Green Bay, the Buccaneers would go into the Divisional Round as the second-highest remaining seed behind the winner of the Detroit-Minnesota game on Sunday night. That team would enjoy a bye in the first round and then play at home against the lowest of the remaining seeds. The Buccaneers would get the next seeded team up from the bottom, which would be either Minnesota/Detroit or Los Angeles.
