Baker Mayfield and the Bucs were in control of the NFC South midway through the season, but they have lost two in a row including a Week 16 loss to these Panthers and five of their last seven. Yes, the Bucs have had to battle through an inordinate number of injuries to key personnel.

There are now just three weekends of NFL football between now and the first week of September. While that is undeniably sad, let’s focus on the fact that there were six excellent games in the Wild Card Round, and with the seemingly eight best teams still ...