Head coach Greg Schiano and defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan might have saved their jobs with a win. However, it was not to be. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost 33-14 to the San Francisco 49ers in their final home game of the 2013 season. The Bucs found it next to impossible to stop the dual threat that is Colin Kaepernick. While the Bucs kept it close for a while, and even pulled within six points, to 20-14 in the fourth quarter; missed tackles and a lack of discipline sealed their fate.
You all know where I stand by now. I firmly believe that the Bucs need to fire offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan. As for Sheridan and Schiano; I am still on the fence. I am leaning towards firing both coordinators and giving Schiano one more year with new assistants.
“It was a called play that we were going to run a reverse if the opportunity presented itself the right way. It didn’t, and yet we still ran it. OK, we made a mistake. Guys make mistakes. I’m not going to get into specifics about it. Sometimes you make mistakes.” Coach Schiano on the Eric Page, Russell Shepard failed reverse and fumble.
Is it ever OK to root against your team?
I have seen this augment play out many times between Bucs fans on Twitter. Some fans think if there team has no shot at the playoffs then its best if their team loses. All in the hope of getting a better spot in the NFL Draft. Then of course there are the fans who no matter what, will never root against their own team.
For the sake of the argument let me play devil’s advocate. I understand the argument of the “Realistic Fan.” The realistic fan understands there team is 2-8 and showing signs of life. For a team that lost their first eight games a two game win streak is heaven. But the 2-8 team has not shot at the playoffs. In the mind of the realistic fan this win streak is bad, any win is bad. Winning games is nice but the realistic fan is already looking forward to the next NFL Draft. The realistic fan wants their team to lose, in their mind the only way for the team to get better is in the draft. Is it ok to hope your team plays bad and loses just so they can have better draft picks? The best example of recent memory is the “Suck for Luck” campaign. Realistic fans of Miami, Indianapolis, Minnesota, St. Louis all hoped there teams would lose to get a shot at the franchise quarterback. I bring this up, because I watch my Twitter timeline before, during, and after games and for a fan base of a losing team this becomes a valid question. Only this year Jadeveon Clowney is the Buccaneers Andrew Luck.
On the other side you have the “True Fan.” The true fan is very easy to understand. All they want is for there team to win, draft picks be damned. The true fan, often attacks the realistic fan for being fake or not a real fan. For a true fan it’s also wrong to ever and I mean ever root for a team in the same division as your team. I was attacked for this when I wanted Carolina to beat New England this year. I hate New England and would rather see Carolina win the NFC South then the Saints. But to the true fans that didn’t matter, I was in the wrong for rooting for a divisional rival no matter the reason.
I can never bring myself to rook against my team. Its easy to see year after year, draft after draft position doesn’t always matter. There will always be first round bust, and late round steals.
There’s only two games left for Bucs fans, Realistic or True this is unacceptable. A team with this much potential shouldn’t be this bad. The fact that they are falls on the Coaches, Front Office and Ownership. The Bucs need desperately to win these last two games. To end the year as positively as possible. Lets not worry about the draft until after the season. #ItsABucsLife
Realistic Fans and True Fans need to stop arguing the only bad type of fan is a bandwagon fan. I however do hope the Bucs are good enough next year to have a few bandwagon fans.
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