The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are prepping for the 2025 season with lofty goals. They'd like to win the NFC South for a record fifth consecutive time and make a deep playoff run culminating in the franchise's third Super Bowl championship.
General manager Jason Licht has had another impressive draft class, and the team has tried to upgrade the defense while also returning all 11 starters from a top-five offense from a season ago.
While most analysts see a strong result from the Bucs in 2025, at least one doesn't agree.
Fox Sports' Henry McKenna predicted the 2025 NFL postseason participants and has Tampa Bay sitting at home watching from their respective couches.
Not only that, but McKenna has the Carolina Panthers winning the NFC South division.
"Yes, I have the Panthers in the fourth spot after taking home the NFC South title. Few were paying attention at the end of last year, but Bryce Young put together an eight-game run that completely changed my perspective on him — and coach Dave Canales," McKenna wrote. "There could be something special brewing in Carolina. It won’t take much to win the NFC South. It might simply take an aligned coach and a QB. But on top of that, the Panthers will also have a slew of offseason additions, from WR Tetairoa McMillan to DT Tershawn Wharton to safety Tre’von Moehrig.
"Carolina is tied for the fifth-easiest strength of schedule, according to last year’s records. Things are lining up."
That all sounds great, but what about the Bucs?
We're thinking he's betting on a catastrophic injury to a key player on offense for Tampa Bay to experience such a collapse. That would be the only logical reason for such an outlandish prediction.
And if something like that were to occur without a significant injury, the Bucs would most likely have a new head coach heading into 2026.