Reliving Lions-Bucs before Round 2: NFC Central foes and playoff heartbreak
ALLEN PARK — The Detroit Lions and Tampa Bay Buccaneers have crossed paths many times from their days as old NFC Central foes fighting for playoff spots, even meeting in the postseason back in 1997.
That history is worth reliving ahead of this weekend’s divisional-round meeting between the two teams back at Ford Field in Detroit. The Lions will host the Buccaneers this Sunday afternoon as they try and vie for another playoff win, with an appearance in the NFC title game within striking distance for both.
It would also represent the first time in franchise history in the Super Bowl era that the Lions won two playoff games in a single year. For Tampa, they’ve tasted postseason success, both recently and in the past, winning it all in 2002-03 against the Raiders and again in 2020-21 against the Kansas City Chiefs.
The Lions lead the all-time series against the Buccaneers 32-29, with most of those meetings coming before 2001 and the creation of the NFC North and South divisions. These two met earlier this season, their 12th matchup since splitting into different divisions, with the Lions winning 20-6 in Tampa Bay.
It’s been a fascinating ride to this point, with the Lions checking off a ton of “first since” milestones. They won their first division championship in 30 years since they were in the Central with Tampa. And the Lions won their first playoff game in 30-plus years when they beat the Los Angeles Rams last week.
And the Bucs have won six of their last seven games, including last week’s drubbing of the Philadelphia Eagles. They won the NFC South title for the third straight season, and look like a different squad.
This one particularly stings in memories, because the Lions split their season series against the Bucs, even beating them 27-9 from Tampa Bay earlier in the year. And not only for that reason but because this was the season legendary running back Barry Sanders was at his absolute best.
Sanders ran for 2,053 yards and 11 touchdowns that year, winning the MVP and all the offensive player of the year awards in the process. It was his second-to-last season, though, with the Lions going 5-11 the next year, and Sanders retiring into the sunset before training camp started around these parts.
Tampa’s vaunted defense set the tone for its rise into league history with this wild-card showing. Heck, and tell me if this sounds familiar, but this win was the first playoff victory for the Bucs since 1979. And for the football romantics still reading, John Madden and Pat Summerall were on the call that day.
Lions starting quarterback Scott Mitchell was stretchered off the field with what would eventually be deemed a concussion in the third quarter. This scary scene came just one week after Reggie Brown’s career-ending, life-threatening spinal cord injury to end the 1997 season against the New York Jets.
Mitchell struggled before the injury, completing 10 of 25 passes for only 78 yards with one interception. And Sanders was bottled for the first time all year, running 18 times for only 65 yards in the 20-10 loss.
FrankReich, yes, that Frank Reich, entered the game for Mitchell and got the passing attack going. But it was too little too late before one of the more painful “ope” moments to remember, with Reich spiking the ball on fourth down to end the season for the Lions in Sanders’ last playoff appearance.
Tell me that isn’t fitting for that era of football for this franchise.
“You don’t scare the world champions by beating the Detroit Lions,” Warren Sapp said after the game. “They’re a good team but I don’t think they were anything grea
This one makes the cut because it’s important to remember where the Lions, and even the Bucs are coming from before this meeting of revamped rosters. This was the season Tom Brady led the Buccaneers to the Super Bowl title, and they clinched their first playoff spot in 13 years with this embarrassing beatdown of the Lions in Detroit.
Brady threw the ball wherever and to whomever he wanted that day. Oh, and the Bucs pulled Brady after only two quarters, with the legendary quarterback throwing for 348 yards and four touchdowns in just one half of action. Journeyman quarterback Blaine Gabbert finished the game under center for the Bucs, and he even managed to throw for 143 yards and two touchdowns.
These were dark days in Detroit. But they led to the current regime taking over, and that matters.
Matt Patricia was fired earlier in the 2020 campaign, with then-offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell taking over as interim coach. This was one of the rare games where Matthew Stafford didn’t finish what he started. Stafford, who was already playing through thumb and rib injuries, rolled his ankle on the first possession and didn’t return. The Lions gave Chase Daniel and David Blough some run that day, with little success coming as the pair combined for 135 yards and one interception.
This was the second-to-last game before Dan Campbell and Brad Holmes took over in Detroit. And while it’s tough to look back on some of these deleted afternoons, it’s important to remember where these two have taken this franchise from in such a short time.
