December 11, 1977: The Tampa Bay Buccaneers win a regular-season football game. This had never happened before.
The Bucs were an NFL expansion team, beginning play in the 1976 season. They and the Seattle Seahawks entered the League that season, the 1st new teams in the NFL since its 1970 merger with the American Football League. Like most expansion teams in sports, both teams were expected to struggle.
But John McKay, who had coached the University of Southern California to 9 Conference Championships and 4 National Championships, was named head coach by team owner Hugh Culverhouse. Lee Roy Selmon, star defensive end from the University of Oklahoma, the top defensive player in the country the season before, was their 1st draft pick. They'd also drafted Lee Roy's brother, Oklahoma linebacker Dewey Selmon.
And their 1st starting quarterback was going to be Steve Spurrier, Heisman Trophy winner at the University of Florida in 1966. Spurrier had been a bust in the pros, but some observers thought that playing in Florida again would revitalize his career. So most football fans didn't expect them to struggle as much as they did. They did win the 3rd of their 4 exhibition games, 17-3 over the Atlanta Falcons.
Officially, the longest losing streak in NFL history was, and still is, 29 games, set by the Chicago Cardinals from October 25, 1942 to October 14, 1945. However, in the 1944 season, due to the manpower drain of World War II, they merged with the Pittsburgh Steelers. They were listed in League standings as "Card-Pitt," but were nicknamed the "Carpets," because teams walked all over them. The teams were separated for 1945.
So, for a single team, the longest losing streak in NFL history before 1976 was 17, by the Dayton Triangles, over the 1927, '28 and '29 seasons. The Triangles folded after the '29 season, so, in a manner of speaking, their losing streak continues to this day. The Washington Redskins matched that 17-game losing streak in 1960 and '61.
The Buccaneers debuted on September 12, 1976, against the Houston Oilers at the Astrodome. It was a wipeout: The Oilers, a team on the rise, beat them 20-0. The next game was their home debut: In front of 39,558 people at Tampa Stadium -- leaving it half-empty -- they lost to the San Diego Chargers, 23-0.
They came close to winning their next game, falling 14-9 at home to the Buffalo Bills. Three weeks later, with their fellow expansion team, the Seahawks, also still winless, coming to Tampa, predictions that neither team could win were voiced. There would be no tie: The Seahawks won, 13-10. They finished the season 2-12. The next week, at home, the Buccaneers held the 2-time recent Super Bowl-winning Miami Dolphins to a 23-20 win.
But as the losses piled up, McKay took the same tack as Casey Stengel did when managing another expansion team, the 1962 New York Mets: He became a quote machine, entertaining the media:
* "We've determined that we can't win at home and we can't win on the road. What we need is a neutral site."
* Well, we didn't block well, but we made up for it by not tackling well, either."
* "We can't stop a pass or a run. Otherwise, we're in great shape."
* When asked, "What do think of your team's execution?" he said, "I'm in favor of it."
On December 12, the Buccaneers lost to the New England Patriots, 31-14 at Tampa Stadium. They had finished 0-14. It was the 1st winless season in the NFL since the 1960 Dallas Cowboys went 0-11-1. It was the first all-loss season in the NFL since 1944, when both the "Card-Pitt" team and the Brooklyn Tigers went 0-10. Without the manpower drain of World War II, the previous all-loss NFL season was by the Cincinnati Reds, who lost their 1st 8 games of the 1934 season, and then folded.
For the 1977 season, McKay made Tampa native and former Chicago Bear Gary Huff his starting quarterback, and drafted one of his last USC players, running back Ricky Bell. But they still kept losing. There was progress, as 5 of their 1st 7 games were lost by 10 points or less. Their 2nd game was nearly a shocker, as they held the defending NFC Champion Minnesota Vikings to a 9-3 win.
Still, they had trouble scoring. Of those 1st 26 games, they scored fewer than 10 points in 17 of them; they failed to score a touchdown in 14 of them; and they were shut out in 11 of them. On December 4, they lost 10-0 at home to the Bears, falling to 0-12 on the season, and 0-26 all-time.
It got so bad that they were worked into pop culture. On an episode of the sitcom What's Happening!! that aired on ABC on November 10, Dwayne (Haywood Nelson) keeps winning in football predictions. Rerun (Fred Berry) wants to win the approval of his brother-in-law, Ike, a compulsive gambler, so he asks Dwayne to pick the Monday Night Football game.
Dwayne's pick is "Tampa Bay 10, Oakland 7." This pick doesn't make any sense: The Raiders are the defending World Champions, and the Buccaneers haven't won a game yet. (In real life, the Bucs did not play the Raiders that season.) But Dwayne says his system is foolproof.
So Rerun gives Ike the pick. Ike calls his bookie, and bets $500 -- about $2,460 in 2022 money. Rerun yells at him: "I told you to bet big, not crazy!" Now, Rerun knows that if Dwayne's pick isn't foolproof, he's in trouble. Sure enough, the Raiders win, 47-0. Ike tells Rerun he's going to work at his store until that $500 is paid off.
Rerun and Raj (Ernest Thomas) demand to know how Dwayne's "foolproof system" works. Dwayne gives them the convoluted way he picks the score. As for which team wins? Helmets: He picks the team that he thinks has the better-looking helmets. I have to admit: The orange and white Tampa Bay helmets, with a pirate known as "Bucco Bruce" on the side, did look better than the silver and black Oakland helmets, which also had a pirate logo.
And on NBC, in his "Carnac the Magnificent" sketch for The Tonight Show, Johnny Carson said this:
Answer: The Titanic and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Question: Name two disasters that were accompanied by band music.
At the time, if you asked an NFL fan what team would give the Bucs their first regular-season win ever, the likeliest answer would have been the New Orleans Saints, a team that had been perennially snakebit since their 1967 debut, and had never had a winning season. (They wouldn't have one until 1987, wouldn't make the Playoffs until that season, wouldn't win a Playoff game until 2000, and wouldn't reach a Super Bowl until the 2009 season, winning Super Bowl XLIV.)
So it wasn't a total surprise that, on December 11, 1977, at the Superdome in New Orleans, the Buccaneers beat the Saints, 33-14, finally winning in their 27th regular-season game. Dave Green kicked a field goal in each of the 1st 2 quarters. Huff threw a touchdown pass to Morris Owens to make it 13-0 Tampa Bay at the half.
In the 3rd quarter, Mike Washington intercepted a pass from Archie Manning -- Peyton and Eli's father -- and returned it 45 yards for a touchdown. In the 4th quarter, Richard Wood intercepted Manning, and returned it 10 yards for a touchdown. It was 26-0 Tampa Bay. Had that turned out to be the final score, it would have been poetic justice: A reverse of 0-26.
Manning ran for a touchdown to put New Orleans on the board, but on the Saints' next drive, he got sacked deep in his own territory, fumbling, and Greg Johnson recovered the ball in the end zone for another Buccaneer touchdown. Manning threw a late touchdown pass to John Gilliam, but the Saints would get no closer than 33-14.
The big surprise was the margin of victory. The Bucs had only scored as many as 20 points twice before that, topping out at 23 in another loss to Seattle earlier in '77.
The following week, the last game of the regular season, the Bucs gave their home fans their 1st win, beating the football version of the St. Louis Cardinals, 17-7, to finish the season at 2-12. In 1978, they improved to 5-11. In 1979, they finished 10-6, winning the NFC Central Division, and advancing to the NFC Championship Game, where they lost to the Los Angeles Rams. After a losing season in 1980, they won the Division again in 1981, before falling apart again.
It would take until 1997 -- the season when they dropped Bucco Bruce for their pirate flag helmet design, and their "creamsicle" uniforms for their red and "pewter" version -- for the Bucs to stop being a joke franchise and make the Playoffs again, beginning a run of success that included winning Super Bowl XXXVII in 2003. They have also won Super Bowl LV in 2021.
The longest losing streak in the NFL since the '76-'77 Bucs is 20, by the 2020 and '21 Jacksonville Jaguars. Although the 2008 Detroit Lions and the 2017 Cleveland Browns both went 0-16, neither threatened the Bucs' 0-26 mark.
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December 11, 1977 was a Sunday. These other NFL games were played that day:
* The New York Giants lost to the Philadelphia Eagles, 17-14 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.
* The New York Jets lost to the Buffalo Bills, 14-10 at Shea Stadium.
* The New England Patriots beat the Miami Dolphins, 14-10 at Schaefer Stadium (later Sullivan Stadium and Foxboro Stadium) in the Boston suburb of Foxborough, Massachusetts.
* The Detroit Lions beat the Baltimore Colts, 13-10 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore.
* The Houston Oilers beat the Cleveland Browns, 19-15 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.
* The Chicago Bears beat their arch-rivals, the Green Bay Packers, 21-10 at Soldier Field in Chicago.
* The Seattle Seahawks beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 34-31 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.
* The Denver Broncos beat the San Diego Chargers, 17-9 at Mile High Stadium in Denver.
* The Los Angeles Rams beat the Atlanta Falcons, 23-7 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
* In a rematch of the previous season's Super Bowl, the Oakland Raiders beat the Minnesota Vikings, 35-13 at the Oakland Coliseum.
* The day before, Washington Redskins lost to the football version of the St. Louis Cardinals, 26-20 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.
* Also the day before, the Cincinnati Bengals beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 17-10 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.
* And the next night, on ABC Monday Night Football, the Dallas Cowboys beat the San Francisco 49ers, 42-35 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.
There was 1 college football game played, the Mirage Bowl at Korakuen Stadium in Tokyo, Japan. Grambling State beat Temple, 35-23.
There were 3 NBA games played that day:
* The New Jersey Nets beat the Washington Bullets, 106-95 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.
* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Buffalo Braves, 124-119 in overtime at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar scored 43 points and had 19 rebounds.
* And the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Houston Rockets, 116-84 at the Seattle Center Coliseum.
There were 6 games played in the NHL:
* The New York Rangers lost to the Boston Bruins, 8-2 at Madison Square Garden.
* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Cleveland Barons, 11-1 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia. Tom Bladon had a hat trick.
* The Washington Capitals beat the St. Louis Blues, 2-1 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.
* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Vancouver Canucks, 3-0 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.
* The Atlanta Flames beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 5-1 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.
* And the Chicago Black Hawks beat the Minnesota North Stars, 8-3 at the Chicago Stadium.
And there were 3 games played in the World Hockey Association:
* This was the season of an experiment where Soviet and Czech All-Star teams played in the WHA. The Czechoslovakia team played 8 games, and won only 1, This was not it: They lost to the Quebec Nordiques, 8-4 at the Colisée de Québec.
* The Winnipeg Jets beat the Indianapolis Racers, 7-1 at the Winnipeg Arena.
* And the Houston Aeros beat the Edmonton Oilers, 4-2 at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton.
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