NFC EAST Dallas 11-3 Washington 10-4 St.Louis 10-4 Philadelphia 4-10 NY Giants 3-11 NFC CENTRAL Minnesota 9-5 Chicago 9-5 Detroit 6-8 Green Bay 4-10 Tampa Bay 2-12 NFC WEST L.A.Rams 10-4 Atlanta 7-7 San Francisco 5-9 New Orleans 3-11 DIVISIONAL GAMES Dallas 37 Chicago 7 Minnesota 14 L.A.Rams 7 CHAMPIONSHIP GAME Dallas 23 Minnesota 6

AFC EAST Baltimore 10-4 Miami 10-4 New England 9-5 NY Jets 3-11 Buffalo 3-11 AFC CENTRAL Pittsburgh 9-5 Cincinnati 8-6 Houston 8-6 Cleveland 6-8 AFC WEST Denver 12-2 Oakland 11-3 San Diego 7-7 Seattle 5-9 Kansas City 2-12 DIVISIONAL GAMES Denver 34 Pittsburgh 21 Oakland 37 Baltimore 31 CHAMPIONSHIP GAME Denver 20 Oakland 17

SUPER BOWL XII at the New Orleans Super Dome Dallas 27 Denver 10

And the losing went on and on and on. It was 26 games before the Bucs would finally break into the win column for the first time in franchise history, a 33-14 triumph in New Orleans repeated the following week for the long-awaited first home win. But this was the team that only scored 17 points in a seven week stretch negating some good work done by a young and increasingly talented defense. Jokes were being made weekly around the NFL and on the Johnny Carson Show about the winless Buccaneers and Saints’ QB Archie Manning even commented that losing to them “would be a disgrace”. But it happened and both New Orleans and St.Louis coaches would wind up losing their jobs from the fallout of their defeats. For Tampa fans, the monkey was finally off their backs and they could concentrate on becoming a successful NFL team at last.