Tampa Bay Buccaneers

One of the biggest, or surely funniest, challenges that faced the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after they joined the NFL as an expansion franchise in 1974 was to ensure that their pirate logo looked different from “the other pirates” in the league: namely, the Oakland Raiders. As opposed to the grittier logo of the Raiders, the Buccs opted for a handsomer, more dashing take on piracy, featuring a swashbuckling fellow in a feathered cap winking at the world with a dagger clenched in his teeth. Not everyone was impressed, with one local journalist dubbing him Bucco Bruce, a nickname that remains to this day and another calling him the pirate who “struck fear into the hearts of no one.” Apart from three brief forays into the playoffs, the Buccaneers of the 1970s, 80s, and early 90s also would have satisfied this description too, with few opposition teams quaking in their boots at the thought of a visit to Tampa. This began to change in 1997, when the team returned to the postseason for the first time in 15 years, posting only the franchise’s second-ever playoff win 20-10 over the Detroit Lions before falling to the Green Bay Packers in the next round. They hung around for the next five years, making the playoffs but not raising too many alarms until they blew the doors down in 2002 with a 12-4 regular season followed by a dominant run to Super Bowl XXXVI. With their opponents the Oakland Raiders, the game was nicknamed The Pirate Bowl, and it proved to be the flashy Buccaneers rather than the gritty Raiders who took the prize on the day, cruising to a 48-21 victory to record the franchise’s first-ever championship. Things fell apart after that, with the Buccs making just two playoff appearances between 2003 and 2018. But the team blindsided the league in 2019, riding the coattails of a 43-year-old Tom Brady (somewhat acrimoniously let go by the New England Patriots, with whom he had won six Super Bowls) all the way to Super Bowl LV, where they dispatched the Kansas City Chiefs 31-9. Brady won Super Bowl MVP (and more importantly, perhaps, vindication of the belief that the Pats had been wrong to let him go) and Buccs fans were left in disbelief that their long-struggling team were now the owners of not just one but two Super Bowl trophies. Brady may have retired in 2022, but, seemingly inspired, the Buccs have carried on as playoff contenders. Could their swashbuckling, costumed fans be in for a third title in the future? Only a landlubber would rule them out.