10 most miserable NFL fanbases
By Andrew Garda
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
It wasn’t that long ago that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers looked like they might cause some trouble in the NFC. The last few seasons haven’t borne that out, though, and last season was almost the bottom of the barrel in many ways.
Fans thought they had a keeper in Josh Freeman and for a while it appeared as if they were correct. Then you had Doug Martin come along and a killer defense, so it seemed as if the team had a chance to get back to the 2002 days when they won the Super Bowl.
Instead, Freeman tanked, followed by Mike Glennon who never really found his feet. Martin got hurt and his production fell off as well. Then there was a coaching staff change, bringing Lovie Smith in and along with him Josh McCown. Fans figured it couldn’t get worse, but they were wrong.
Not only was McCown stunningly bad (as anyone who had watched him in Chicago could have told you), defensive genius Lovie Smith looked like anything but. Injuries hampered the defense but in the end it just wasn’t effective.
Add to that a ton of offensive line issues and you have a terrible 2014.
Can things get turned around this season? Fans have to hope so because while the division has been pretty bad the last few years, the New Orleans Saints, Carolina Panthers and Atlanta Falcons all seemed to get much better this offseason. It won’t be hard for them to put some distance between themselves and the Buccaneers.
Fans have to believe it’s going to get better. They’re hoping Jameis Winston is more mature than he seemed in college and will take advantage of two fantastic receivers. They hope the run game and offensive line bounce back and the defense finds its’ feet again.
It’s been a long time since the Bucs gave their fans much hope, but they hang in there anyway.
Next: Oakland Raiders