The Tampa Bay Buccaneers fell into the NFL playoffs with a 9-0 win over the Carolina Panthers to clinch the NFC South. Their reward is hosting last year’s NFC champions, the Philadelphia Eagles, in Wild Card Weekend. If the Buccaneers emerge victorious from the game with the Eagles, where will their playoff journey take them next?
With the assistance of the free PFN NFL Playoff Predictor, let’s examine the Buccaneers’ playoff scenarios and potential opponents in both the Divisional Round and NFC Championship Game.
What Are the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Playoff Scenarios If They Win This Week?
Entering the week, the Buccaneers had an intriguing group of scenarios, including potentially hosting a game in the Divisional Round. However, we now know that a win over the Eagles will send the Buccaneers to face the Detroit Lions at Ford Field.
The way that the NFL playoff bracket works is that the No. 1 seed in each conference hosts the lowest-remaining seed from that conference in the Divisional Round. Meanwhile, the two seeds in the middle face each other, with the higher of the two seeds hosting the game.
The No. 7 seed Green Bay Packers going into Dallas and winning ensured that they would be heading to San Francisco to face the No. 1-seeded 49ers. That left the Buccaneers with the potential of either traveling to Detroit or hosting the Los Angeles Rams, depending on how the game between the Lions and Rams turned out.
The Lions won a close game, so Tampa Bay will head up to Michigan if they win against the Eagles this week. However, the Buccaneers could yet return home to host the NFC Championship Game if they defeat the Lions and the Packers win against the 49ers.
That scenario would see the No. 4-seeded Buccaneers hosting the No. 7-seeded Packers for the right to go to the Super Bowl. Alternatively, if the 49ers and Buccaneers win, Tampa Bay will head to Levi’s Stadium for the NFC Championship Game.
The Lions and Buccaneers make for an intriguing potential Divisional Round matchup. After their first game in 1977 — a 16-7 win for the Lions — the two have faced off a total of 61 times in the intervening period.
MORE: NFL Playoff Bracket
When the Buccaneers joined the NFL, they were placed into the NFC Central with the Lions and the other teams currently in the NFC North.
Focusing on more recent matchups, the two teams played in Week 6 of the 2023 season, with the Lions coming out on top 20-6. That was their first meeting since the 2020 season, so was the first game with Dan Campbell as the head coach of the Lions and Todd Bowles leading the Buccaneers.
This would be just the second meeting of the two teams in the postseason. In 1997, the Buccaneers won 20-10 in the NFC Wild Card Round after opening up a 20-0 lead by the start of the third quarter.
Intriguingly, the Buccaneers would go on to lose to the Packers the following week, but with that game being played in Lambeau Field.
Could history somewhat repeat itself with the Buccaneers defeating the Lions in the postseason before going on to face the Packers in the NFC Championship Game? If it did, that would be as close to a dream scenario for the Buccaneers as they could have imagined when Tom Brady retired last offseason.
Want to predict the results of the 2023 NFL postseason with our FREE NFL Playoff Predictor? How about looking into in-depth breakdowns of team depth charts or the NFL playoff schedule? Pro Football Network has you covered with all that and more!
