Bucs head coach Todd Bowles delivered a serious message to his team after their hard-fought, mistaken-prone 28-13 win over the visiting Las Vegas Raiders. The win, which snapped a three-game losing streak at Raymond James Stadium, coupled with a 35-21 loss by Atlanta, propelled Tampa Bay into sole possession of first place in the NFC South.

For the time being.

“It’s one thing getting to first place, it’s a whole [other] thing staying there,” Bowles said. “We got four games left. It’s going to be a battle all the way through. We have to come ready every week.”

Tampa Bay has now won three straight games since the bye week when the team was 4-6, and at one point was three games behind Atlanta, which swept the Bucs earlier this year. The Bucs’ three-game winning streak has coincided with the Falcons’ four-game losing streak to allow Tampa Bay to surge from behind and retake the lead in the NFC South.

Bucs head coach Todd Bowles – Photo by: USA Today

The Bucs are now 7-6 and the Falcons have fallen from 6-3 to 6-7 on the season. Tampa Bay now controls its own destiny with four games left. If the Bucs win all four games left on the schedule they’ll finish 11-6 and will win the NFC South for a fourth straight time regardless of what the Falcons do.

That’s what Bowles meant in his post-game address to the team in a very excited Tampa Bay locker room at Raymond James Stadium.

“Well, just like I’m telling these guys, you know, just because we’re in first, it’s one thing. To stay in first is a whole [other] deal. We got four weeks to play. We’re happy to be playing meaningful football in December. We understand what that means, we have to go out every week and try to squeeze out these games but it feels good.”

Bucs No Stranger To Playing Meaningful Football In December

The Bucs are in a similar situation to a year ago when the team saw an identical 3-1 start dissolve into a 4-6 record by midseason. Actually, Tampa Bay slumped to 4-7 before winning five of the last six games to finish 9-8 and capturing the division title for a third straight season. The Bucs went 4-1 last December, only losing once – at home to the Saints on New Year’s Eve, 23-13.

Bucs RT Tristan Wirfs – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

With a 26-23 overtime win at Carolina last week, coupled with Sunday’s 28-13 over Las Vegas, Tampa Bay is already 2-0 in the month of December this year. Next up are a pair of road games at Los Angeles next Sunday against an 8-4 Chargers team that is playing Kansas City on Sunday Night Football, followed by a trip to Dallas on December 22. The Bucs return home to play the Panthers again on December 29 before the season finale at home in Week 18 against the Saints the first week in January.

Bucs social media publicly shared an abbreviated message from head coach Todd Bowles to his team.

“Now we’ve got four games left,” Bowles said in a clip the Bucs put out on social media. “December football. We’re trying to play meaningful football in December. Right? We’ve got four games left. We’ve got a two game road trip. I’ll see you guys on Wednesday.”

The key takeaway there for the team is that the non-injured players don’t have to come in to the facility on Monday. They’ll take a “Victory Monday” off and come back for practice on Wednesday.

Bucs left tackle and team captain Tristan Wirfs broke the team down after Bowles’ address.

“Hey, good work today, boys. Way to keep (expletive) swinging,” said Wirfs. “That’s all it takes. One day at a time. Let’s keep grinding.”