Buccaneers 2024 Schedule Features Brutal Four-Game Stretch

The Bucs will have their work cut out for them with a first-place schedule.

River Wells | May 15, 2024

Oct 2, 2022; Tampa, Florida, USA; Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce (87) reacts after a / Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are defending NFC South champions (for the third year in a row if you needed a reminder), and championship play comes with a cost.

The Bucs are playing a first-place schedule, which means they'll face some tough opponents. They'll go against the Detroit Lions, who defeated them in the Divisional Round last year, and they'll have an early matchup with the Atlanta Falcons on Thursday Night Football in Week 5.

However, there's a particularly brutal stretch from Week 7 to Week 10. The Bucs will play the Baltimore Ravens in Week 7 for Monday Night Football at home before playing the Falcons at home the next week, who should serve to be the team's division rival. After that, they'll head to Kansas City to play the defending Super Bowl Champion Chiefs for another primetime game on Monday night and then they'll head back home to play the San Francisco 49ers.

Those four teams combined for a record of 43-25 last year, though the Atlanta Falcons should be a better team after the addition of quarterback Kirk Cousins. And aside from those Falcons, Tampa Bay lost to all of them in prior meetings — the Chiefs and the Ravens defeated the Bucs in 2022 during Tom Brady's last year, while the 49ers defeated Tampa Bay during the 2023 season in San Francisco.

The Bucs would obviously like to win all of these games, but getting a win or two from this stretch would be a nice result. The good news is that there will be some reprieve, as Tampa Bay will have its bye week during Week 11.

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Published May 15, 2024

RIVER WELLS

River Wells is a sports journalist from St. Petersburg, Florida, who has covered the Tampa Bay Buccaneers since 2023. He graduated with a journalism degree from the University of Florida in 2021. You can follow him on Twitter @riverhwells.