2011 reminds me so much of 1980 and 1998.

Simple diagnosis: if the loss to Tennessee hurt, if you found yourself mad as all hell at your TV set when the ball came squirting out of Josh Freeman’s hands, you were suffering STILL from too high of expectations. And I know all about them, because I’m having Deja’vu myself. The Bucs WON these kind of close games last year. They found a way to do it, and that was amazing. You cant help but think your team is going to be better than the year before, its human nature.

1980: The Bucs had gone 10-6, they were the talk of the town, and went all the way to the NFC Championship game before losing 9-0. The next year, the schedule would be a LOT harder, back then you really DID play a first place schedule when you finish in first place! The Bucs won a lot of close games in 79, but they kept a lot of poor to average teams from scoring a lot of points. In 1980, the Bucs defense went up against a lot of passing teams, and those teams took advantage of the Bucs old 3-4 style stop the run defense. The Bucs would play better offensively, which was a sure indication to me my team was better, but the Bucs would take 10-0 leads, and lose the game because the defense couldnt stop a team when it needed too. The Bucs would finish 5-10-1 and it was so frustrating for me. We would go to the playoffs the next two years, but we never matched that 1979 magic.

1998: The Bucs ended 14 years of losing to go 10-6 and won a playoff game before losing in the divisional round to Green Bay, who beat the  Bucs 3 times that year. The Bucs had this new mighty defense, and was a team on the rise, so you just knew the Bucs would get a little more offense. 1997 found the Bucs winning a lot of close games too, but in 1998 the Bucs defense battled some injuries it didnt have in 1997. Also, QB Trent Dilfer regressed from 97-98 and the team’s offense did too. The Bucs NEVER really figured out how to properly run Alstott and Dunn like they did in ’97, but the defense would just get better and two return trips to the NFC Championship games would satisfy the let down feeling that 1998 produced.

So here we are, and for all intents and purposes, 2011 is a finished product. Were looking for the Bucs to finish 4-1 to go 8-8 but that may not happen. It may be time for the Bucs and Bucs fans to start looking for the NFL Draft, and see where we can best get help for our team, so they can help put this one in the rear view mirror.