The 1979 Tampa Bay Buccaneers season was the franchise's 4th season in the National Football League. All home games were played at Tampa Stadium. After having won just seven games in the previous three seasons combined, the 1979 Buccaneers won ten games for their first winning season. They finished as NFC Central division champions and won the first playoff game in franchise history.

The Buccaneers added offensive threats to complement their solid defense; a healthy Doug Williams played his first full season and Ricky Bell became the team's first 1,000-yard back, rushing for a career-high 1,263 yards.

Tampa Bay also had the number one defense in football allowing only 237 points all season, while their opponents scored only 14.8 points per game.

The 1979 team not only posted their first winning record but earned a playoff spot by winning the NFC Central division title. The playoff spot was secured in the final week in a rain-sodden game against the Kansas City Chiefs, with the only score being a 19-yard field goal by Neil O'Donoghue. The Bucs recorded their first-ever playoff win by defeating the Philadelphia Eagles 24–17, behind Bell's 142 yards rushing. Tampa Bay hosted the 1979 NFC Championship Game the following week but lost 9–0 to the Los Angeles Rams.

Offseason

NFL draft

Draft trades The Buccaneers had no selection in the first round, that pick having been traded to the Chicago Bears for defensive end Wally Chambers.The Bears used this pick to select Dan Hampton The Buccaneers had extra picks in the second and third rounds in return for trading nose tackle Dave Pear to the Oakland Raiders. They also had extra third and fifth round picks from the Houston Oilers, as part of the 1978 trade for the Buccaneers' first overall pick. They received a third-round pick from the Baltimore Colts in return for running back Dan Hardeman. The Buccaneers' own third-round pick went to the Miami Dolphins as NFL-ordered compensation for signing Randy Crowder. Defensive end Council Rudolph was traded to the Dolphins in return for an eighth-round pick. Other picks were traded as follows: round 4 to the Detroit Lions for Rockne Freitas, round 5 to the Seattle Seahawks, round six to Oakland for Rik Bonness, round seven to the Washington Redskins for Frank Grant, round eight to the New York Jets for Darrell Austin, and round ten to the San Francisco 49ers for Jim Obradovich.

Draft selections The Buccaneers doubled the size of their scouting staff from two to four, hoping to get more mileage out of the later rounds of the draft. Greg Roberts was the 1978 Outland Trophy winner, and blocked for 1978 Heisman Trophy winner Billy Sims. The Buccaneers had him rated as the best lineman in the draft, and expected him to have been selected long before the second round, where the Buccaneers had their highest selection. He is believed to have fallen to the second round due to an inability to pass-block, having played at the run-heavy University of Oklahoma. This resulted in a poor performance at the Senior Bowl.Martz, Ron. "Big pain killer: Bucs' Roberts". St. Petersburg Times. 4 May 1979Associated Press. "Roberts Hopes To Stick With Lions". Ocala Star-Banner. 1 Sep 1985 Gordon Jones, with a 4.59 time in the 40-yard dash, drew pre-draft comparisons to Lynn Swann, but dropped to the second round due to concerns over his speed. He was the third receiver selected overall.Ledman, Gary. "Draft Success All in Eyes Of Beholder". St. Petersburg Independent. 3 May 1979Axelrod, Phil. "Waiting for Draft Unnerves Jones". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 4 May 1979 Roberts and Jones both left the Buccaneers after four seasons. Jerry Eckwood and Rick Berns were selected to address injury problems at running back. Eckwood had been second in the nation in rushing (behind Ricky Bell) before being injured in 1975. Berns was at the time the leading rusher in Nebraska history. Eckwood and Berns impressed McKay enough in mini-camp that he traded Louis Carter away.Martz, Ron. "Can new backs escape old jinx?" St. Petersburg Times. 25 May 1979Tierney, Mike. "Berns, Aaron Brown cut by Bucs". St. Petersburg Times. 25 Aug 1981 Gene Sanders played for several seasons, after successfully converting to offensive tackle. Twelfth-round selection Dave Logan, the lowest-round draft selection to stick with the team,Chick, Bob. "Of Latecomers And Longshots". St. Petersburg Evening Independent. 30 Apr 1981 went on to become one of the Buccaneers' best and most popular players.

Preseason

Offseason personnel changes Dave Pear, the Buccaneers' first Pro Bowl selection and most popular player, was traded to the Oakland Raiders for two draft picks. This was partly to get extra help in what was expected to be a strong offensive draft, but also because Pear had requested that he be traded if his contract could not be renegotiated.Ledman, Gary. "A Pain From a Lost Pear". St. Petersburg Evening Independent. 1 May 1979 Dave Green, the punter and kicker through the first three seasons, had to be replaced when he tore his Achilles tendon stepping over a tackling dummy in training camp.Associated Press. "Bucs Lose Green". The St. Petersburg Evening Independent. 25 July 1979

Cancellation of Dolphins scrimmage Miami Dolphins owner Joe Robbie canceled the yearly preseason matchup in Tampa, claiming that the Buccaneers approached the matchup with excessive intensity, resulting in Dolphin injuries. A dispute with Buccaneers owner Hugh Culverhouse was also a factor, as Culverhouse was promoting a proposed rule to ban NFL owners and their families from holding controlling interest in other sports teams. Robbie's wife Elizabeth was the owner of the NASL Ft. Lauderdale Strikers.Kirshenbaum, Jerry. "Scorecard". Sports Illustrated. 27 August 1979

1979 roster Tampa Bay Buccaneers 1979 roster Quarterbacks Chuck Fusina Mike Rae Doug Williams Running backs Ricky Bell Rick Berns Johnny Davis Jerry Eckwood Tony Davis George Ragsdale Wide receivers Isaac Hagins Larry Mucker Gordon Jones Morris Owens Tight ends Jimmie Giles Jim Obradovich Offensive linemen Darrell Austin C/G/T Darryl Carlton T Greg Horton G Dave Reavis T Greg Roberts G Steve Wilson C George Yarno G/C Defensive linemen Wally Chambers DE Randy Crowder NT Bill Kollar NT Reggie Lewis DE David Logan NT Gene Sanders DE Lee Roy Selmon DE Linebackers Rik Bonness OLB Aaron Brown ILB Cecil Johnson OLB David Lewis OLB Dana Nafziger OLB Richard Wood ILB Dewey Selmon ILB Defensive backs Cedric Brown FS Billy Cesare CB/S Mark Cotney SS Curtis Jordan SS/FS Danny Reece CB Mike Washington CB Jeris White CB Special teams Tom Blanchard P Neil O'Donoghue K Reserve lists Jerry Anderson S (IR) Jimmy DuBose RB (IR) Dave Green P (IR) Charley Hannah T (IR) Randy Johnson C/G (IR) J. K. McKay WR (IR) Kurt Schumacher G (IR)

rookies in italics

Coaching staff Tampa Bay Buccaneers 1979 coaching staff Front office Owner – Hugh Culverhouse

Head coaches Head coach – John McKay

Offensive coaches Quarterbacks & Receivers – Bill Nelsen Running backs – George Chaump Offensive line – Bill Johnson Defensive coaches Defensive coordinator/linebackers – Tom Bass Defensive line/chief assistant – Abe Gibron Secondary – Wayne Fontes

Special teams coaches Special teams coordinator – Phil Krueger 1979 coaches roster at bucpower.com All-time coaches roster at buccaneers.com

Regular season As in 1978, McKay thought that a 9–7 record was a reasonable goal for the season. The Buccaneers surprised the NFL by winning the team's first five games, becoming the season's last undefeated team and appearing on the cover of Sports Illustrated.Sports Illustrated. 1 October 1979. It also put them in first place for good in the NFC Central. The team's youth became an issue, as the Buccaneers went into a late-season losing streak on the verge of earning the team's first playoff spot. It was felt that more veteran leadership would have helped the team during the stretch run.Tierney, Mike. "Buccaneers fighting war of the words". St. Petersburg Times. 15 December 1979. p. 1C Linebacker Dave Lewis publicly stated that the team was "choking", while Selmon—who had played on the expansion team when it began 0–26—compared the difficulty of getting the playoff-clinching win to the difficulty of getting the team's first win.Tierney, Mike. "Bucs admitting they're choking". St. Petersburg Times. 11 December 1979. p. 1C After dropping three games in a row, of which winning any of the three would have clinched the division, McKay launched into an obscenity-laced tirade against reporters who called the team a "laughingstock" and "Chokeneers".Associated Press. "McKay Launches Tirade". The Victoria Advocate. 12 December 1979. p. 4B

Even against a schedulePro Football Reference says that the only teams since to gain an easier schedule than the 1979 Buccaneers were the 1991 Buffalo Bills with five games against teams 4–12 or worse and the 1999 St. Louis Rams with only one game against a team with a winning record (ironically against the Titans, whom they would defeat in the Super Bowl). that featured only two opponents with winning recordsThese were division rivals the Chicago Bears and the 9–7 Los Angeles Rams. it took until the final game of the season for the Buccaneers to win their tenth game.Zimmerman, Paul. "NFC Central". Sports Illustrated. 8 Sep 1980 A better division record gave the Buccaneers the division win over the also-10–6 Chicago Bears. Despite being listed by Pro Football ReferencePro Football Reference; 1979 Tampa Bay Buccaneers Statistics & Players as the second-worst team to win 10 games ahead only of the 2012 Colts,Pro Football Reference; 2012 Indianapolis Colts Statistics & Players the Buccaneers became only the second non-Viking team to win the NFC Central since 1970,The other non-Viking team to win the NFC Central during the 1970s was the 1972 Green Bay Packers, who finished 10–4 to the Lions 8–5–1 and the Vikings’ 7–7. and the only one to advance in the playoffs.McCallum, Jack. "Purple Pros: The Same Old Story". Sports Illustrated. 16 Nov 1981 The Buccaneers were considered by many to be an unworthy division champion, even called “cheesecake champions” by opponents,Holliman, Ray. "Dazed Doug doesn't see final blunder". St. Petersburg Times. 26 November 1979. p. 24C but advanced to the NFC Championship with a 24–17 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles. There, with several key players injured, they held the Los Angeles Rams to nine points, but were held scoreless on offense to end their season one game short of the Super Bowl.Chick, Bob. "The Sun Finally Set on Tampa Stadium". St. Petersburg Evening Independent. 8 January 1980

Schedule Week Date Opponent Result Record Game site Attendance 1 Detroit Lions W 31–16 1–0 Tampa Stadium 68,225 2 September 9 at Baltimore Colts W 29–26 2–0 Memorial Stadium 36,374 3 September 16 at Green Bay Packers W 21–10 3–0 Lambeau Field 55,498 4 September 23 Los Angeles Rams W 21–64–0 Tampa Stadium69,497 5 September 30 at Chicago Bears W 17–135–0 Soldier Field55,258 6 October 7 at New York Giants L 14–175–1 Giants Stadium72,841 7 October 14 New Orleans Saints L 14–425–2 Tampa Stadium67,640 8 October 21 Green Bay Packers W 21–36–2 Tampa Stadium67,186 9 October 28 at Minnesota Vikings W 12–107–2 Metropolitan Stadium46,906 10 November 4 at Atlanta Falcons L 14–177–3 Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium55,150 11 November 11 at Detroit Lions W 16–148–3 Pontiac Silverdome70,461 12 November 18 New York Giants W 31–39–3 Tampa Stadium70,261 13 November 25 Minnesota Vikings L 22–239–4 Tampa Stadium70,039 14 December 2 Chicago Bears L 0–149–5 Tampa Stadium69,508 15 December 9 at San Francisco 49ers L 7–23 9–6 Candlestick Park44,506 16 December 16 Kansas City Chiefs W 3–010–6 Tampa Stadium63,624

Week 1: vs. Detroit Lions