Bucs Spoiled Lions' Party In 1981

The Lions of the early-1980s were annual playoff contenders. They made the playoffs in 1982 and '83, and came very close in '80 and '81.

The 1981 team had its heart broken on the last Sunday of the season by the ... (drum roll please) Tampa Bay Buccaneers. With good old Wayne Fontes as the Bucs' defensive coordinator.

The Bucs entered the NFL in 1976 and introduced themselves to the football world by losing their first 26 contests. They finished 2-12 in 1977, and nudged up to 5-11 in 1978.

Then, catching the proverbial lightning in a bottle, the Bucs went 10-6 in 1979, winning the Central Division and making it all the way to the conference championship before losing to Los Angeles, 9-0. "From Worst to First!" was their rallying cry.

The Bucs had qualified for the playoffs one year ahead of coach John McKay's "five year plan" for success. But that plan wasn't as ingenious as it appeared.

"I said we had a five-year plan because I had a five-year contract," McKay deadpanned years later for NFL Films. "We would have had a three-year plan if I had a three-year contract, or a four-year plan, etc."

After slumping in 1980, the Buccaneers came back strong in 1981.

The Lions were unbeaten at home going into the last Sunday. But their 7-0 mark at the Silverdome was negated by their 1-7 record on the road. So the Lions, 8-7, would go up against Tampa Bay, also 8-7, for a winner-take-all showdown in Pontiac.

It was a close, hard-fought contest, but thanks to nose tackle David Logan's long fumble return for a TD, the Bucs led, 20-17, in the closing minutes.

The Lions drove for the tying or winning score, led by Eric Hipple. They got into the red zone. But in the waning moments, Hipple was intercepted in the end zone. The Lions suffered their only home loss, and the Bucs celebrated their second division title in three years in the Dome's visitors locker room.

Ironically, the Lions made the playoffs the next season despite a 4-5 mark in the strike-shortened season. They won the division in '83 with a 9-7 record. The Bucs, however, weren't good again, really, until Tony Dungy took them over in 1997. And they became yet another expansion team to win a Super Bowl, in 2003, under Jon Gruden.

I remember seeing films of the Bucs' post-game celebration in '81 in Pontiac, and there's Fontes in the background, his brown, round, tanned face conspicuous. And those big white teeth, smiling away. Four years later, he'd become the Lions' defensive coordinator under Darryl Rogers. The rest, they say, is history.

Sunday, the Lions welcome the Bucs and their thrice-deposed QB, Jeff Garcia -- whose career has been nearly ended in Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia. Yet he's still around, and having a great season so far.

"We didn't have all our players on the same page in Detroit," Garcia said earlier this week of his time here in 2005. "It's hard to win that way."

He's another who won before Detroit, and has won after leaving. Usually, those types have all the answers, in typical 20/20 hindsight fashion.