A year ago, after a 1-6 skid dropped the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ record to 4-7, the team decided to treat every remaining game as if it was a must-win, as if the postseason had arrived early. Quarterback Baker Mayfield led that charge, first delivering the message to his teammates and then backing it up with his play, as he threw 11 touchdowns against three interceptions during the Buccaneers’ 5-1 sprint to the finish. It was enough to capture a third straight NFC South title.

The Buccaneers are back in the same mode in 2024 as they close in on December. Hoping to get on a hot streak coming out of their bye week, they started things out well with a 30-7 drubbing of the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium. Now it’s on to the next round of the playoffs and the win in the Meadowlands bought them a trip to Charlotte to play the division-rival Carolina Panthers. Kickoff on Sunday, December 1 is set for 4:05 p.m. at Bank of America Stadium.

“That’s how we feel – our playoffs started last week,” said Mayfield. “We’ve just got to keep our head down and take care of us. If we look up at the end and take care of us, we’ll be fine.”

The Buccaneers sit at 5-6 after snapping a four-game losing streak, and that’s one game behind the division-leading Atlanta Falcons. Functionally, though, it’s a two-game deficit because Atlanta swept the head-to-head series and thus hold an ironclad tiebreaker. Tampa Bay could get into the postseason with a Wild Card berth if they don’t manage to reel in the Falcons, but if they want to win a fourth straight NFC South crown they will have to be two games better than Atlanta over the next six weeks. That’s a tight window to squeeze through, which is why the Bucs have adopted that early playoff-mode mentality.

“We’ve had a lot of close games before the Bye Week – that margin of error – we were on the wrong side of things, hurt ourselves a lot,” said Mayfield. “I think we’re looking at those games, learning from it, and moving forward.”

The Panthers are 3-8 in their first season under Head Coach Dave Canales, after going 2-15 last year, but they are currently in the most encouraging stretch of their season. Carolina beat the Giants and Saints before their Week 11 bye, and they came out of that break with a strong performance against the 10-1 Kansas City Chiefs. The game was tied at 27-27 with less than two minutes to play before Patrick Mahomes spun some of his signature late-game magic to set up the winning field goal. Second-year quarterback Bryce Young led an impressive late drive to tie the game and finished with a career-best 92.6 passer rating in the game.

Two weeks into his second season, Young was benched in favor of veteran Andy Dalton, but after five starts Dalton sprained a thumb in a car accident and Young got a second chance. He has played much better in his return to the lineup, effectively working the middle of the field and extending plays to get shots downfield.

“He’s been playing good football of late that we’ve seen,” said Buccaneers Head Coach Todd Bowles. He’s been playing very good football. Dave’s positivity and his coaching, period, is a good influence on him. It takes a while to learn offenses, no matter who you are. He’s got a good handle on it right now. I think they’ve figured each other out – they’re getting along, you can see it on the field.”

Canales got the job in Carolina after just one season as Tampa Bay’s offensive coordinator, presumably in large part with the great work he has done helping to revive the careers of Mayfield and Seattle quarterback Geno Smith. This is the first time that the Buccaneers will be facing their former OC but Bowles doesn’t think the familiarity will be a contributing factor to the outcome.

“I’ve coached against [former colleagues] before,” he said. “We’re trying to concentrate on things we can do better. We understand what they can do – we know the players they have, we know the coaches they have. We still have to correct our little things. We corrected some things last Sunday – we’ve got to correct more of them this Sunday.”

The Bucs brought in Liam Coen to replace Canales and the results have been good. Tampa Bay’s offense ranks fourth in the NFL in scoring, seventh in total yards, 10th in rushing yards, seventh in passing yards, third in first downs, second in third-down conversion rate and second in red zone touchdown efficiency. Mayfield has thrived in Coen’s system and he started the team’s “playoff” run with a masterful outing against the Giants. Despite not throwing a touchdown pass – the Bucs ran it in four times – he finished with a passer rating of 107.5

“He’s at his best when he’s spinning the ball, when the ball is able to come out on time and in rhythm,” said Coen of Mayfield. “As much as we can do that without just throwing quick game all day – that’s not what we’re trying to get done – we’re trying to attack the defense as many ways as we can. It just so happens that getting the ball out of his hands quickly and getting people at the right spots at the right times in space has been good for us. So, I think it’s probably a combination of [him] and Thad [Lewis], their work together, and our work together as a group getting his feet, his mind and everything, and his reads, on time. Then, also, just playing to the guy’s strengths.”

Despite the Panthers’ overall struggles last year, both games between them and the Buccaneers were very tight affairs. The first was a 21-18 Bucs win in Tampa in Week 13 and the second was a 9-0 decision in Charlotte in the regular-season finale, a win the visitors had to have to clinch the division and make the playoffs. Once again, the Buccaneers and Panthers will meet twice in the last six weeks of the season, and the outcomes of those games may very well decide if Tampa Bay is in the playoffs for a fifth straight year.