The Buccaneers spent their early years as the worst thing in football and have since won two Super Bowls, which is one of the better redemption stories the January record holds. The franchise that once lost its first twenty-six games has stood on the sport’s biggest stage and won it twice. That arc is the whole point of Tampa Bay.

From punchline to champions

The first title came after the 2002 season, a defense-driven run capped by a Super Bowl rout, the coach beating the very team he had just left. The second came after the 2020 season, when Tom Brady arrived, dragged a veteran roster through January, and won the Super Bowl in Tampa’s own stadium, the first team ever to play a title game at home. Two trophies, two eras, both improbable.

The recent run of division titles

More recently the Buccaneers have been a fixture in January without a deep run, a string of NFC South titles that ended in early exits. They missed the dance this past season, the division going to Carolina. The trophies are secure. The recent Januarys have been short.

A historic run of early futility, two Super Bowl titles, and a recent stretch of one-and-done Januarys. Buccaneers fans, your franchise went from the biggest joke in the sport to a perfect record on the biggest stage, which is a turnaround I genuinely admire. From a team that is zero for four up there, two for two looks like the dream.