The Bucs Are Super Bowl Bound As Green Bay’s Late Field Goal Down 8 Backfired

Tom Brady is headed to his 10th Super Bowl, as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will get a home game against either the Chiefs or the Bills after traveling to Green Bay and taking down Aaron Rodgers and the top-seeded Packers.

Brady had a rather wild game, throwing for 280 yards and three touchdowns, but he also had three interceptions in the second half that allowed the Packers to hang around and make it a tight game. Early on things were great for the Bucs, as they rolled up 21 first half points, 14 of which came as they targeted Packers CB Kevin King who had a rather disastrous outing. First, it was Mike Evans who got behind King in the red zone and then Scottie Miller managed to beat him on a backbreaking long touchdown to end the first half (that also ruined first half under bets in horrific fashion).

King wasn’t alone in having a rough night in the Packers secondary, as they were far too willing to bite on play-fakes all game, never more apparent than on this touchdown to Cameron Brate who was uncovered in the end zone.

Rodgers had some answers, but struggled to consistently find holes in the strong Bucs defense, particularly in the second half, as they got pressure on Rodgers an awful lot to keep Green Bay from capitalizing on Brady’s three interceptions. Still, Rodgers finished the day with 346 passing yards, three touchdowns and one interception (which led to the Miller TD before the half. He threw some darts and dimes as he tried to will the Packers back into the game.

The Bucs would take a 31-23 lead late in the fourth quarter, but Rodgers had plenty of time to try and find a game-tying touchdown. After a dime to Marquez Valdes-Scantling set them up near the red zone, Green Bay would get to a first-and-goal from the 8 and it seemed like we were certain to get at least a critical two-point conversion attempt with the game on the line.

However, after two failed pass plays, Rodgers threw another incompletion on third down when many felt he should’ve tucked it and run — although Devin White was spying him and almost assuredly would’ve run him down short of the goal line. On 4th and goal from the eight with just over two minutes to play, Matt LaFleur made the rather stunning decision to kick a field goal to go down five, rather than letting Rodgers play for a touchdown and, if they failed, still having Tampa pinned deep and just about the same situation on their hands if they got a stop.

It was a rather dumbfounding decision in the moment and one that will surely haunt the Packers and LaFleur for some time, as Brady and the Bucs never gave the ball back, thanks in large part to a third down pass interference call on King, who was caught grabbing Tyler Johnson’s jersey.

There was plenty of uproar about the DPI flag, which was somewhat warranted given all the jersey tugging and hand contact allowed during the game, but that stretch and pull of the undershirt made it too obvious not to call and the Bucs were able to run out the clock and end the Packers Super Bowl dreams. The loss was brutal for Green Bay, who had to have felt they had ample opportunity. The end of the first half TD looms large, as does their inability to turn the Brady turnovers into consistent points and punish those mistakes. And on top of all of that, they’ll have to stew over the field goal choice inside the 10 that will yield an awful lot of conversation and frustration for the next year.

The Bucs, meanwhile, have to feel great to escape a rollercoaster Brady game, with some of his best throws of the season but also some of his worst. The defense looks the part of a championship unit and was without their starting safeties for most of the game and still had as much success as they did. Now, they’ll await another high powered offense in the Super Bowl at home, as they’ll face either Josh Allen and the Bills or Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs.