At 6-3 entering a Week 10 game with the Carolina Panthers, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are one of the favorites to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl.
But, based on what history says about what happened to them in Week 9 against the New Orleans Saints, perhaps they shouldn’t be.
Playing on Sunday Night Football against their division rivals, the Bucs were shellacked 38-3 in front of a national audience. For 43-year-old Tom Brady, who tossed three interceptions in the beatdown, it was the most-lopsided loss of his NFL career.
As painful as the defeat may have been at the time, the implications it has for Tampa Bay’s chances of making a Super Bowl may be even worse.
According to ESPN, no team that has lost by as many points as the Buccaneers lost by on Sunday night has gone on to win a Super Bowl.
Entering this season, the largest margin an eventual Super Bowl winner has lost by is 32 points.
In October of 1994, San Francisco lost to the Eagles 40-8 as 49ers QB Steve Young passed for fewer than 100 yards and was intercepted twice as Philly outgained San Fran 437 yards to 189. The Niners went on to win Super Bowl XXIX over the Chargers 49-26.
With regard to Tampa’s chances this year, it is worth noting Brady and the Patriots opened the 2003 season with a 31-point home loss to the Buffalo Bills but went on to win Super Bowl XXXVIII 32-29 over the Carolina Panthers.
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