TAMPA, Fla. — Yes, we’re telling you there’s a chance.
Conventional odds say the Bucs’ only postseason home game will be Super Bowl 55 — if they even get that far. As an NFC wild-card team, the road back to Tampa promises to be arduous, perhaps even icy, but history proves it can be successfully navigated.
Since a second wild card was added to each conference in 1978, nine teams have advanced from the wild-card round to win the Super Bowl. Some seemed a far longer shot than these Buccaneers, who appear to be clicking as the calendar turns.
We’ve compiled a list (in chronological order) of the four unlikeliest Super Bowl runs by wild-card teams (regular-season records in parentheses).
———
1980 Raiders (11-5)
The first wild-card team to win the Super Bowl was a dumpster fire a month into the season. Quarterback Dan Pastorini broke his leg in Game Five against the Chiefs, and presumably washed-up backup Jim Plunkett threw five interceptions in relief in a 31-17 loss that dropped Oakland to 2-3. However, coach Tom Flores stuck with Plunkett, who resurrected his career by leading the Raiders to a 9-2 mark the rest of the way. They embarrassed the Oilers (and former Raiders quarterback Ken Stabler) 27-7 in the wild-card game at home, and ultimately topped the Eagles, 27-10 in Super Bowl 15. Plunkett was selected the game’s MVP (13 for 21, 261 yards, three touchdowns) though Rod Martin had three interceptions.
———
2005 Steelers (11-5)
This Bill Cowher-coached team, featuring receivers coach Bruce Arians, became the first since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger to win a Super Bowl without playing a single home playoff game. The Steelers found themselves plodding along at 7-5 following a three-game skid, but won their last four contests by double digits. Keying that regula- season resurgence was a relentless defense that allowed 33 total points in those last four games and registered eight sacks against the Browns in a 41-0 rout in Week 16. Their playoff run, capped by a 21-10 win against the Seahawks in Super Bowl 40, may never have transpired without the biggest tackle of Ben Roethlisberger’s life. Leading by three against the Colts with about a minute to play in a divisional playoff game in Indianapolis, burly tailback Jerome Bettis — in the final season of a hall-of-fame career — had the ball punched loose near the Colts goal line. Nick Harper picked it up and began sprinting the other way, but Roethlisberger made a shoestring tackle near the Indy 40, helping preserve a 21-18 Pittsburgh win.
———
2007 Giants (10-6)
This team’s unlikely playoff run represented a de facto revenge tour. Tom Coughlin’s club opened the season with a 10-point loss to the Cowboys, followed by a 23-point home loss to the Packers, but topped both in the posteason. The Giants also avenged a 38-35 loss to Tom Brady and the Patriots in the regular-season finale with their shocking 17-14 victory in Super Bowl 42 that thwarted New England’s quest for the NFL’s first 19-0 season. Yet for all the surrealality of David Tyree’s “helmet catch” on New York’s game-winning Super Bowl drive, perhaps the season’s most improbable moment came in the NFC title game in Green Bay, where the wind chill was minus-23 degrees. Corey Webster’s interception of Brett Favre in overtime set up Lawrence Tynes’ winning 47-yard field goal, compensating for two misses (of 43 and 36 yards) in the second half. The New York Daily News reported Tynes developed a huge knot on his instep as a result of kicking a frozen brick of a football, requiring the foot to be drained two days after the game.
———
2011 Giants (9-7)
Wholly underwhelming in the regular season, the Giants became the first team in NFL history to reach the Super Bowl with a negative point differential (outscored 400-394 over 16 games). They then became the only Super Bowl champion to win fewer than 10 games in the regular season. Tom Coughlin and Co. leaned heavily on Eli Manning, who threw for nearly 5,000 yards to compensate for a feeble run game (89.2 ypg) and surprisingly modest defense that ranked in the bottom 10 in yards allowed (376.4 ypg) and points allowed (25.0 ppg). Cementing his legacy as a big-game QB, Manning led the Giants to double-digit wins in their first two playoff games before kicker Lawrence Tynes booted another winning field goal in overtime (this one a 31-yarder against the 49ers) in the NFC title game. New York then prevailed in a Super Bowl sequel against the favored Patriots, clinching a 21-17 victory on Ahmad Bradshaw’s 6-yard scoring run with 57 seconds to play.
———
Other wild-card Super Bowl champions
— 1997 Broncos (12-4)
They won their first six games and nine of their first 10, but the Chiefs (13-3) were a tad better and won the AFC West
— 2000 Ravens (12-4)
Ray Lewis and Co. set an NFL record for fewest points allowed in a 16-game regular season (165), then allowed one touchdown in four playoff games.
— 2006 Colts (12-4)
Tony Dungy’s club surrendered more than 5 rushing yards per attempt, but compensated with Peyton Manning’s 4,397 passing yards, 31 TDs
— 2010 Packers (10-6)
Their six defeats were by a combined 20 points. Two losses occurred in overtime.
— 2012 Ravens (10-6)
Ravens sent Ray Lewis out in style, defeating the Broncos and Patriots on the road in consecutive weekends in the playoffs before winning the “Harbaugh Bowl” against the 49ers in Super Bowl 47.
