1976 Expansion Franchise Launch

Lore & Background

The Buccaneers gained infamy as the first team to play an entire 14-game season without winning or tying a single game (including five games where they never scored). It remains one of only four winless seasons since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger. The Buccaneers did not score until their third game and did not score a touchdown until their fourth. They lost by more than a touchdown eleven times. Colorful, maverick former USC coach McKay, whose wisecracking remarks occasionally agitated fans and the league, led the team. The only bright spot was future Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee Lee Roy Selmon, who made his rookie debut in an injury-plagued season. The expansion draft was largely made up of aging veterans, giving the Buccaneers little basis for success. The lack of medical information provided on players in the expansion draft contributed heavily to the team's problems, as they finished the season with 17 players on injured reserve. They were last in the league in points scored, touchdowns, and rushing touchdowns. After a 19-point fourth-quarter performance brought them within striking distance of a victory in week 8 against the Kansas City Chiefs, they were blown out of every game the rest of the season. Subsequent expansion teams were given a more generous allotment of draft picks and expansion draft opportunities, in part to avoid a repeat of the Buccaneers' difficulties. This was the only season in which the Buccaneers were not members of the NFC. Instead, they played in the AFC's West Division, after which they switched conferences with their expansion brethren, the Seattle Seahawks, who took their spot in the AFC West per the NFL's plan to have the two teams play all of the other teams in their first two seasons. From 1977 to 2001, the Buccaneers represented the NFC Central, which was otherwise filled with teams from the Great Lakes region (Bears, Lions, Packers and Vikings). Since 2002, both teams have played in the NFC, with the Buccaneers in the South and the Seahawks in the West. Compiling a -287 point differential (-20.5 per game), the 1976 Buccaneers compiled the worst point differential of any NFL team since the AFL–NFL merger, a record that still stands as of 2025. They broke the record previously set by the 1972 Patriots, who were outscored by 254 points.

Reader's Guide

Owner Hugh Culverhouse, encouraged by recommendations from Vice President of Operations Ron Wolf and Alabama coaching legend Bear Bryant, chose John McKay, winner of four national championships with the USC Trojans, as the first Buccaneer head coach. Aided by a string of great tailbacks, including Heisman Trophy winners O. J. Simpson and Mike Garrett, McKay was credited with popularizing the I formation. Other candidates considered included Hank Stram, Ara Parseghian, and Joe Paterno. McKay was reportedly offered a five-year contract worth $750,000, plus cars, insurance, and real estate, and turned down an offer from the Seattle Seahawks and a counter-offer from USC to take the job. Critical of the NFL, he had turned down offers from professional teams in the past. McKay cited NCAA cutbacks in finances and recruiting as motivations for leaving the college ranks, saying simply that it was 'time to try something else'. McKay's only promise was that he would beat what he called 'Pittsburgh's timetable', referencing the fact that it took the Steelers 41 years to win their first championship. Coach McKay would prove to be somewhat correct as Tampa Bay won the NFC's Central Division in 1979, the team's fourth year of existence, though it would take the team 27 seasons to win its first championship in the 2002 season. Their second championship would come 18 seasons later in Super Bowl LV.

Did You Know?

• McKay had a natural sense of humor that helped him to cope with the pressures of the long losing streak, and it was not unusual for his press conferences to resemble comedy routines.
• On hearing about kicker Pete Rajecki's nervousness at playing in front of McKay: 'That's unfortunate, as I plan on attending all the games'.
• At a postgame press conference: 'You guys don't know the difference between a football and a bunch of bananas.'
• At the following week's press conference, after a member of the media left a case of bananas at his door: 'You guys don't know the difference between a football and a Mercedes-Benz.'
• On John Brodie's comment that Steve Spurrier throws one of three passes into the ground: 'That's OK, we'll just get shorter receivers.'