Bucs down to one more chance to clinch 3rd straight NFC South title, 4th consecutive playoff berth

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — There’s no more room for error in Tampa Bay’s bid for a fourth straight playoff appearance.

Win Sunday’s regular-season finale at last-place Carolina, and the Buccaneers are in as NFC South champions.

Lose and they’re out.

“By any means necessary, we have to show up,” coach Todd Bowles said.

“All we need is a chance to get in,” quarterback Baker Mayfield reiterated, “and we’re still sitting where we need to be.”

While beating the Panthers to earn what would be a franchise-record third consecutive division title may not appear to be a daunting challenge, the Bucs (8-8) have not performed consistently enough this season to draw any conclusions about how they might play this week.

At 2-14, Carolina has the worst record in the NFL and is coming off a 26-0 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars.

But the Bucs are looking to rebound from a stinker of their own after wasting an opportunity to clinch the division title in a listless 23-13 loss to the New Orleans Saints.

“Very disappointing. It was like we didn’t know what’s at stake,” linebacker Lavonte David said. “We came out very flat on both sides of the ball.”

Mayfield threw a pair of interceptions and the Bucs also fumbled twice to lose the turnover battle 4-0. Offensively, they were held scoreless into the fourth quarter. Defensively, they struggled to stop the Saints in critical situations while falling behind 20-0.

New Orleans (8-8) climbed into a tie with Tampa Bay for the division lead. If the Bucs lose to the Panthers, then the winner of Sunday’s Saints-Atlanta Falcons finale will win the NFC South and host a playoff game the following weekend.

“Our thing is we can’t beat ourselves. We don’t care if they were 14-2. In the NFL anybody can beat anybody any given week, and division games are always tough,” Bowles said.

“We have to play our game, make less mistakes, and then we’ll worry about the opponent on Sunday,” the coach added. “If we can do that, we will have a chance to win.”