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Roy Cummings, The Tampa Tribune, published 3 January 2000
There was whooping and hollering and an ice-water bath on the sideline for Coach Tony Dungy. But there was no champagne. The time for that still had not come Sunday. It will come, though. Warren Sapp and Frank Middleton and the rest of the Bucs are convinced of it, for they view their regular-season-ending 20-6 victory against the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field as a beginning. "We're just getting started," Ronde Barber said as he stuffed a white NFC Central Division championship T-shirt into his suitcase. "Believe me, the champagne will flow if we take care of business the next few weeks."
Business - as usual. That's what it was inside the Bucs locker room less than an hour after Tampa Bay (11-5) clinched not only its first NFC Central Division in 18 years, but also a first-round playoff bye. There was nose tackle Brad Culpepper in one corner, with sweat, not beer, dripping from his brow, talking about how much he needs a week off to rest his badly bruised heel and get ready for Round 2. And there in another corner was General Manager Rich McKay, talking about how he'll use the same time frame to work in a replacement for left tackle Paul Gruber, the cornerstone who broke his right leg and will miss the playoff run.
There was Middleton, sitting in front of his stall and saying the offensive line still has to play better, especially now that Gruber is gone. And in another corner was Dungy, talking about how his players have stepped up all season long and how they'll have to continue to step up now that the stakes are increasing.
Oh, there were high-fives, too, and in the middle of it all John Lynch was joyously trading out one style of NFC Central Division title cap for another. But even after 18 years, that elusive division flag was being viewed as nothing more than a single-digit mile marker on a road that leads to far greater things. It's a road the Bucs believe strongly that they'll continue travelling for weeks to come. "There's so much more this team can do," defensive end Chidi Ahanotu said. "What we did [Sunday], winning this title, this was just one of our goals. But we're not done. There's more, and the feeling in this locker room is we can do anything."
Who can blame them for feeling that way? After all, these Bucs already have bucked the odds and done so much. They've overcome injuries to critical starters, a 3-4 start and indifferent play from key players such as receiver Reidel Anthony. They've overcome slow starts, a string of two-score first-quarter deficits and the worst loss in franchise history. They've overcome so many obstacles this season that their path seems almost pre-ordained. It certainly did Sunday.
In a town that had 20 inches of snow dropped on it on this day a year ago, the Bucs took the opening kickoff under partly-sunny skies and near balmy conditions. The 54-degree game-time temperature was just four below the record for this date and well above what was expected by the Bucs, who have never won a game when the game-time temperature is 39 degrees or colder. "Sometimes you get lucky," Ahanotu said when asked about the weather. "We've had a lot of luck this year."
There wasn't much luck involved in Sunday's victory, which gave the Bucs a regular-season franchise record 11 victories. As they were in most of the games they played this year, they simply were better than their opponents, especially defensively. Though a couple of late drives allowed the Bears (6-10) to flirt with dreams of a comeback and pad their stats, the Bucs were dominant when they had to be, allowing just 55 yards during a first half when they built a 10-0 lead off two late turnovers.
On offense, meanwhile, the Bucs rediscovered not only their running game (143 yards), but also receiver Jacquez Green (10 catches, 113 yards). They also regularly rebuilt the 10-point margin that they had established by capitalising on the early defensive takeaways. "I thought our offense was just outstanding," Dungy said. "When they scored the [late third-quarter] field goal and [made the score 13-6] and we were going against the wind, we answered. Warrick Dunn made a big [33-yard] run to get us out of the hole and Shaun King made a great throw to Dave Moore at the end. It was like they just weren't going to be denied."
That feeling prevails inside the Bucs locker room, where the players believe their togetherness is one of the reasons they have and will continue to overcome adversity and achieve what other Tampa Bay teams haven't. "Over the last two years, it just seems that whatever could go wrong has gone wrong," receiver Bert Emanuel said. "But we overcame all of that and that's what makes this so special. This season and last season has been a true test of our character and the feeling we have now that we've achieved this is that we can do anything. That this was just the beginning for us."
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