NFL: 5 most likely teams to reach the NFC Championship game
By John Buhler
How cool would it be to see a team play a Super Bowl in its home stadium?
In the 54 years of the Super Bowl era, not once has the host city had its hometown team play in the NFL’s marquee event. Though the 2017 Minnesota Vikings came close very recently, we might get our next best shot at it in 2020, as the revamped Tampa Bay Buccaneers could hoist the George Halas Trophy and then play in Super Bowl 55 right at home at Raymond James Stadium.
These aren’t your same irrelevant Buccaneers anymore. They won the Tom Brady free agency sweepstakes back in March. Tampa Bay orchestrated a trade with Brady’s former employer in the New England Patriots to acquire his favorite target in tight end Rob Gronkowski‘s rights. It’s about to be a Super Bowl party down in Tampa this year. It may not happen, but it’d be so cool if it did.
On paper, the Buccaneers should be one of the seven best teams in the NFC. Just making it into the playoffs would be a huge accomplishment for a franchise that hasn’t won its division since 2007. As with the New Orleans Saints, Tampa Bay will have earned it, as the Buccaneers have two games against the Saints and the Atlanta Falcons in divisional play this year.
While one would rule out the Buccaneers from playing in Super Bowl 55, on account no team has ever played a Super Bowl in their home stadium before, that doesn’t meant Tampa Bay can’t get to the NFC Championship for the first time in nearly two decades. Regardless of how they’re seeded, this is a team capable of winning multiple playoff games to get to the NFC conference title bout.