Bucs 1st team to play Super Bowl on own turf
Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will feel right at home in the Super Bowl.
The Buccaneers made history at Green Bay on Sunday as they defeated the Packers 31-26 in the NFC championship game.
Tampa Bay (14-5) is the first team to play a Super Bowl in its home stadium. The Super Bowl will take place on Feb. 7 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. There have been 25 venues that have held Super Bowls.
The wild-card Bucs reached the NFL finale after winning three road playoff games in Washington, New Orleans and Green Bay.
The prize is much different this year, though, because the Super Bowl will be played in front of a far smaller crowd than usual.
Tampa Bay averaged 14,483 fans for its eight home games in 2020 — about 22% of stadium capacity. The NFL is planning for about 22,000 fans at the Super Bowl. Fans will be in pods separated by 6 feet, and masks will be required in accordance with local COVID-19 safety protocols.
Here's a look at the other NFL teams that made the playoffs the season their home stadiums hosted the Super Bowl and came up short:
Coming off the “Minnesota Miracle” at home against New Orleans — Stefon Diggs hauled in a 61-yard touchdown pass from Case Keenum on the final play — the Vikings traveled to Philadelphia for the NFC title game and got shellacked 38-7.
The Texans won the AFC South and were the No. 4 seed heading into the AFC playoffs. They beat Oakland in a wild-card game but lost 34-16 the following week on the road to Brady and New England.
The Dolphins were the No. 4 seed in the AFC and beat division rival Buffalo at home to open the playoffs. They barely showed up the following week in Denver, getting smoked 38-3 by a team that featured four future Hall of Famers: quarterback John Elway, running back Terrell Davis, tight end Shannon Sharpe and safety Steve Atwater.
The Dolphins were the No. 3 seed four years earlier with the Super Bowl set to be played at Joe Robbie Stadium. They beat Kansas City to open the playoffs and traveled cross-country to face San Diego in the divisional round. Miami led 21-6 after Marino's third TD pass of the day just before halftime. But it was all Chargers from there. They scored 16 unanswered points in the second half, including the go-ahead touchdown with 35 seconds remaining.
The Dolphins lost to Houston at home in a wild-card game, ending any chance they had of returning to the Orange Bowl for the Super Bowl.
The wild-card Dolphins lost at Oakland 21-14 in the opening round of the AFC playoffs and ended up watching Baltimore beat Dallas in Super Bowl 5 at the famed Orange Bowl in Miami.
