One and done.
The pattern of single Super Bowl seasons in the decade of free agency has been interrupted only by the 1997-98 champion Denver Broncos.
Now the 4-6 Tampa Bay Buccaneers look silly talking about two titles in a row when they haven’t yet won two games in a row. After their 20-13 loss to Green Bay, all the talk sounded hollow and desperate. The Bucs seem resigned to a fate outside the postseason altogether.
Coach Jon Gruden, last year’s Genius of the Decade, could think only of the eight penalties committed by his undisciplined, preoccupied, injury-wracked bunch. Four offensive linemen switched spots last week, which shouldn’t entirely excuse a rash of false starts. Maybe it was the scattered boos from the home crowd, which has seen four losses in five games.
Asked about playoff possibilities, Gruden said: “Right now, in all realistic views, if we cannot get off the ball on time, if we are going to jump offsides and fail to do some basic fundamental things, I’m more concerned with the next football game.”
The next game is all any team can handle, of course, but the Bucs have been distracted all year. More than the personnel turnover of free agency and as much as injury, their problem is a lack of hunger, demonstrated by the Packers’ 98-yard winning touchdown drive. One championship provided satisfaction enough for a defense that thinks quite highly of itself, just like the Baltimore Ravens of 2000.
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“I’m very shocked,” Gruden said Monday. “I think a lot of people were shocked last year that we won the Super Bowl. This is a shocking world we live in, the NFL. Let me reiterate that to everybody. I’m shocked at the state of the league. There are a lot of teams that I think are very talented that are struggling. Nothing stays the same. Nothing ever stays the same. You either get better or you get worse. Clearly, we’ve made a decline in the first 10 weeks of this season. We’re confident. Rich McKay and myself are very confident that we can turn this thing around.”
McKay is the general manager who reportedly is having trouble getting along with Gruden, another roadblock they both deny.
The Bucs’ impressive opening-night victory at Philadelphia provided a false sense of accomplishment. It was as if the Bucs had picked up where they left off–at the top. They forgot the real trick to repeating. It’s not to convince yourself you want to stay at the top. It’s to convince yourself you again want to climb from the bottom, where everybody starts anew.
Receiver Keyshawn Johnson, who had two false starts himself, spoke of still getting to the playoffs with a 9-7 record. But Johnson must have other things on his mind because his house is up for sale.
Instead of repeating, defensive tackle Warren Sapp spoke of not quitting.
“There isn’t any way we are getting to this point and lying down,” Sapp said.
Sapp is in the final season of his contract, and it is unlikely the Bucs will re-sign him.
“It’s at this point that you find the people in this locker room who really want to play football versus the guys who don’t,” defensive end Simeon Rice said.
Too late. Gruden sensed doom before this or he wouldn’t have resorted to motivational tricks before an obvious do-or-die showdown with Green Bay.
Gruden brought back a rock to the locker room as a symbol of his motto, “Pound the rock.” He showed a motivational video featuring great sports champions–Kirk Gibson coming off the bench to hit a home run, Michael Jordan sinking a game-winning jump shot, Tiger Woods holing a pressure putt. Then he had Devil Rays manager Lou Piniella give a pep talk.
Maybe it confused the Bucs and they forgot they were playing football.
As defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin said: “I didn’t expect them to go 98 yards on a drive that was so important.”
“I think everyone’s looking for a reason,” Gruden said. “Everyone’s looking for motivation or hunger. Do we have the same mind-set we had last year? We’ve got the same rock. We won a lot of games last year in dramatic fashion. Some not so pretty, some blatantly ugly. And we’ve lost those kind of games this year.”
Bengals No. 1: Now that the Cincinnati Bengals are No. 1–in the AFC North, at least–the NFL officially has been turned upside down.
The 5-5 Bengals have beaten the 5-5 Ravens, so they have the tiebreaker. They play again Dec. 7.
Only 1-3 on the road, the Bengals play their next three away–at San Diego, Pittsburgh and Baltimore.
“You know that the team that gets hot, that plays well down the stretch, that stays healthy, you have a chance to go very far,” coach Marvin Lewis said. “Every year in the NFL, that script is written and somebody plays it out and runs the table with it and ends up where they want to be in January.”
Ruining Kansas City’s perfect season earned the Bengals some respect.
“But I still don’t think we have everybody’s respect,” linebacker Kevin Hardy said.
Evidently not. San Diego running back LaDainian Tomlinson, lamenting his team’s embarrassing 37-8 loss to Denver, said Monday he fears that the Chargers are becoming the laughingstock of the league.
“We play for pride,” Tomlinson said. “You play not to get laughed at. Not to be called the Cincinnati Bengals of the league.”
Did Tomlinson realize he plays the Bengals on Sunday?
“Look at what they’re doing now,” Tomlinson said. “They’re 5-5 and beating an undefeated team. Now there’s a new team that everyone is laughing at and picking on. We could easily become that team.”
Just in time: As tight and unpredictable as the NFL can be, teams still get only so many chances, as the Buccaneers have discovered.
The Bears can’t say they haven’t had their chances. Now they must travel to Denver, where they get to face Jake Plummer, the quarterback who spurned them in free agency.
“It’s nice to get Jake back,” Broncos coach Mike Shanahan said Monday while celebrating a 37-8 win over San Diego. “Just to get the confidence in having him back and his ability to make plays.”
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Plummer missed one game with a sore shoulder, then three more after breaking his foot while getting up off the couch. Against the Chargers, he played as if he’d never missed a game, throwing for 253 yards and three touchdowns.
The Broncos lost three of four without Plummer.
Plummer stopped in Chicago last spring long enough for the Bears to gain some leverage to sign Kordell Stewart. They didn’t seem to have much interest in Plummer, and the feeling was mutual. The Bears said they got the man they wanted. So did the Broncos.
Stacking wins: The Philadelphia Eagles have won five in a row. They are the only NFC team to have more than a two-game winning streak going. That’s why the Packers weren’t turning backflips after beating the Bucs.
The Packers lost to the Eagles at Lambeau Field the week after beating the Vikings in Minnesota.
“You don’t see the same level of excitement as after the Minnesota game because we know there’s a ton of work left,” Packers tackle Mark Tauscher said in Tampa. “It’s not good enough to keep winning one and losing one. It’s what you do next. This doesn’t mean anything if you don’t get it done next week.”
The Packers play host to the San Francisco 49ers Sunday.