1995 Tampa Bay Buccaneers season

The 1995 Tampa Bay Buccaneers season was the franchise's 20th season in the National Football League (NFL).

The season began with the team trying to improve on a 6–10 season in 1994, a season in which the team won 4 straight games at the end of the year, and four of their final five. It was Sam Wyche’s final season as the team's head coach.

Prior to the season Malcolm Glazer took over ownership of the team, then the Bucs drafted defensive lineman Warren Sapp and linebacker Derrick Brooks, both of whom are recognized as two of the team's greatest ever players. The Buccaneers' first-ever draft pick, Lee Roy Selmon, was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Overview

There had been rumors as far back as the end of

Bucs’ head coach Sam Wyche gained some notoriety for saying "Five dash Two" to reporters during a press conference after the seventh game of the season, referring to the team's 5–2 record at the time. Tampa Bay had won 9 of its previous 12 games, going back to the end of the 1994 season, and many observers felt they had become a sleeper NFC playoff contender. However, the good luck and victory string soon ran out, and the team would go 2–7 for the remainder of the season.

Following the week seven overtime win over Minnesota, Tampa Bay lost three in a row before beating expansion Jacksonville, only after Jaguars coach Tom Coughlin decided to go for a 2-point conversion when scoring a last-minute touchdown. It failed and the Bucs won 17–16, giving them a sweep of that season's new expansion teams, as they had beaten Carolina 17–10 in week 5. Two more losses followed, and the 6–7 Buccaneers had a prime time ESPN Sunday Night Football game against the Green Bay Packers, who were playing without future Hall of Fame defensive end Reggie White due to injury. Tampa Bay pulled out an overtime win over the eventual NFC Central champion Packers to make their record 7–7, ensuring that their streak of 10-loss seasons—dating back to the 1983 season—would end. The Buccaneers had remained in playoff contention through fourteen games for the first time in a 16-game season since 1981, when they won their second division championship in three seasons under coach John McKay and quarterback Doug Williams. (the Buccaneers qualified for the expanded playoff tournament during the strike-shortened 1982 season, their last postseason appearance until 1997).

The Bucs, however, lost to

Rumors also swirled that Wyche, knowing he would be let go by new owners without a winning record after a 5–2 start, ordered the team to wear orange jerseys and orange pants for the season finale (which at the time, would have been a first to wear the same colored top and bottom other than white), but after several players refused to wear it, the idea was scrapped. New owner Malcolm Glazer decided Wyche's tenure as coach was done, and started the search for the next coach of the Buccaneers, a search that would bring in coach Tony Dungy, who would turn the Buccaneers into a perennial playoff team (a 54–42 record and four playoff appearances in six seasons with the Tampa Bay), and build the foundation for their first Super Bowl win in 2002.

Offseason

NFL Draft

Transactions

• July 27: Tampa Bay signed linebacker Tommy Thigpen^[4]

Personnel

Staff

^[5]

Roster

Regular season

Schedule

Standings

Notes

References