The Kansas City Chiefs are trying to buck the trend of losing to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers when the two meet up this Sunday afternoon.
The AFC West and NFC South meet every four years, meaning the Kansas City Chiefs only play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers every four years (the exception being if they met in the Super Bowl, but that has never happened before). I’m bringing this obvious statement up because it makes the Chiefs’ last win coming against the Bucs in 1993 look a little less ridiculous when you think of it that way.
Still, the Chiefs have not beaten the Buccaneers since Sept. 5, 1993, when Joe Montana and Marcus Allen were still members of the Chiefs. That was actually Montana’s first game as a Chief, as Kansas City traveled to Tampa for their first game of the 1993 season.
Since then, however, Tampa has won five straight against KC with all but one of those games being a one-score final. The one time the Bucs blew out the Chiefs was in 2012 when, let’s be real, everyone was blowing out the Chiefs.
Can the Kansas City Chiefs finally knock off the Buccaneers?
If this year’s team can’t do it, it’s hard to think we’ll see a better team up to the task of doing so. The 2016 team went 12-4 and lost to the Buccaneers in a 19-17 final at Arrowhead. KC ended up with the No. 2 seed in the playoffs while the Bucs missed the postseason altogether. As annoying as it is to say this, Tampa has just always managed to have KC’s number no matter who is coaching either team.
A lot has obviously changed since the Chiefs last faced Tampa Bay, most notably their quarterback. Patrick Mahomes was playing what would be his final season at Texas Tech when the Chiefs last faced the Buccaneers and no one in their right mind thought he’d be the quarterback in Kansas City at that point in time.
Mahomes is the key for bucking the trend of losses against Tampa Bay. He’s 1-2 against Tom Brady, but the Chiefs do look to be the better team between these two. When the Bucs are on point, they’re one of the best teams in the league, but their problem has been that they haven’t been able to consistently put it all together.
Heading into this weekend’s matchup, the Chiefs are field-goal favorites but we all know how little that means, especially when two good teams go toe-to-toe. The Bucs are at home (and there are fans allowed in Raymond James Stadium) and they’re coming off a not-so-stellar loss to the Rams. They’ve been a very up and down team this season, but it’s hard to see them putting up back-to-back stinkers.
With the Steelers continuing to win, the Kansas City Chiefs need to also continue to win. They’re likely not finishing the season at 15-1 and this game against Tampa could very well be a loss, but hopefully, the losing streak to the Buccaneers is about to come to an end.