As much as any team, NFL realignment in 2002 split the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ existence into two separate eras, with 25 years spent in the NFC Central with annual trips north to Chicago, Detroit, Minnesota and Green Bay, and the past two decades living in a much warmer existence in the NFC South.
From the humble early years and frigid road games to today’s comparably easy life — two of three division opponents are in domes, and Charlotte’s fairly temperate — it’s been two very different experiences, and for other reasons beyond the weather.
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“I’m definitely biased, because we went into the South in 2002 and won the business,” said longtime Bucs defensive back Ronde Barber, now in the team’s Ring of Honor and a key part of Tampa Bay’s first Super Bowl championship team that first season in the new division.
Barber’s NFL career started in the North, which wasn’t kind to a young defensive back, with Minnesota’s Randy Moss dominating and Green Bay’s Brett Favre slinging it and Detroit’s Barry Sanders running at and around them as well.
“We didn’t have to play Randy and the Vikings twice a year and Brett Favre twice a year, and there was something redeeming about that,” Barber said. “We handled Detroit a lot of the time, but dealing with those two in their height and their big years was tough. But I enjoyed being in the North, just because of those rivalries. I’ll always have those indelible memories because those were our up-and-coming years.”
Having Tampa Bay in the division gave the Bears, Lions, Packers and Vikings a warm respite for a weekend each season, but the late-season trips north probably weren’t appreciated as much by the Bucs or their fans.
“I don’t miss going to Soldier Field in November. I don’t miss going to Lambeau Field in December,” said Gene Deckerhoff, the radio voice of the Bucs since 1989, with plenty of calls in both iterations of Tampa Bay’s existence.
Deckerhoff, who also called Florida State football games for decades as well as Seminoles basketball, can remember a mid-1990s weekend when he called an FSU basketball game at NC State on a Saturday, then flew to Chicago, only to have his Sunday morning flight to Green Bay canceled, scrambling for another flight and a hurried cab ride with three Packers fans offering the driver $50 extra if they got to Lambeau in time for kickoff.
And, aside from a brief lapse of success from 1979-82, those first 20 years in the NFC Central weren’t particularly welcoming in the standings either, with eight last-place showings and no playoff appearances between 1983 and 1996.
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“You look at the year by year by year, we finished fifth in that five-team division more than anybody else,” Deckerhoff said.
The Bucs actually spent their first season in the AFC West, though the designation had little meaning — they played all 13 of the other AFC teams once that season, as well as fellow expansion team Seattle, on the way to an 0-14 debut season. The Bucs and Seahawks switched spots in 1977, but again, the Bucs played all 13 NFC opponents once, along with Seattle again. They only began playing their division rivals twice a year in 1978, when the season expanded to 16 games.
In 2002, Atlanta and Tampa Bay knew each other well before realignment and had played 12 times in 15 years from 1986 to 2000. And the Bucs and Saints played often enough they met in 12 consecutive seasons at one point. Carolina had only been to Tampa once in its seven seasons of existence before the Bucs’ joining the South, but the geographic proximity helped forge today’s rivalries.
Former Bucs general manager Rich McKay, who grew up around the team as his father John was Tampa Bay’s first coach, remembers appreciating the new division from the very first game in 2002. Tampa Bay hosted the Saints and trailed by 10 points with as little as three minutes left, rallying for a touchdown and a tying field goal as time expired, only to have New Orleans win in overtime on an interception of a desperate left-handed toss from punter Tom Tupa in the end zone.
“I remember that they celebrated in a fashion … I’m not sure we enjoyed the fashion in which they celebrated,” McKay said. “I just remember that the game felt ‘on’ at that point in time … I watched the game a couple of weeks ago, so I’m sure it (still) is.”
When NFL realignment was approved in May 2001, The New York Times’ story about the vote saw the Bucs as a potential winner.
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“The Buccaneers leave a tougher division — formerly the N.F.C. Central and now the N.F.C. North, which is composed of Minnesota, Green Bay, Detroit and Chicago — for the softer N.F.C. South, consisting of the Bucs, Carolina, Atlanta and New Orleans,” the story explained.
”I’m really happy about that because we finally get rid of the Buccaneers,” the Vikings’ owner, Red McCombs, jokingly told the Times.
But 20 years later, the divisions have had different levels of success than perhaps anticipated 20 years ago. All four NFC South teams have been to the Super Bowl, going a combined six times and winning three of them. The NFC North, by comparison, has had just two trips to the Super Bowl, and one win, from Green Bay.
The Bucs have been gone from the NFC Central for two decades, but the all-time leading rushers against Tampa Bay are still Sanders (2,195 yards) and Chicago’s Walter Payton (1,629), and the opponent with the most touchdown receptions against the Bucs is still former Packers receiver Sterling Sharpe (12).
The new division put the Bucs against some well-entrenched quarterbacks, all with league MVPs on their résumé. Of the all-time leaders in passing touchdowns against Tampa Bay, three of the top four are from the NFC South, in the Saints’ Drew Brees (61), the Falcons’ Matt Ryan (43) and former Panthers quarterback Cam Newton (26), with only Favre (37) keeping them from having the top three spots.
There’s a natural recency bias to appreciate the Bucs’ current place in the NFC South, and also the two championships that bookended their first 20 years in the new division.
“I feel like I’m a South player, even though our history began in the North,” Barber said. “I can’t say which one was better. I think the regional aspect of the NFC South rivalry kind of elevated the entire group, and obviously we all have had success in the 20 years now. We see how these four teams react to each other, no matter who’s playing who.”
(Photo illustration: John Bradford / The Athletic; photos: Scott Halleran, J. Meric, Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)
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