Back in September, following an opening day win on the road versus the eventual NFC South champion Atlanta Falcons, I wrote a column called, There’s Optimism In The Air, Bucs Fans. Can You Feel It?

“There is a feeling in the air for Bucs fans.

Can you feel it?

No, not the first blast of cool Canadian air that arrives as the calendar tells us Fall is approaching as the local drug stores put out Halloween candy and bad seasonal decorations.

Instead it is a feeling of optimism that Bucs fans haven’t felt in years.”

I will admit, there were times this season when I thought, “Well Cook, you sure were off on that column.”

In fact there was the following week when the Bucs went to Arizona and got blitzed by the Cardinals 40-7. Oops.

And the next two weeks when the Bucs were beaten by a bad Rams team then manhandled by the Broncos. Yikes.

But then a Monday night match-up on the road against the Panthers, with a depleted 1-3 football team facing the 2015 NFC champs, there was a glimmer of hope. Yes, Carolina was without Cam Newton, and yes, tight end Greg Olson caught 37 balls for 476 yards that night. But somehow the Buccaneers did just enough to squeak out a win.

A potential season-saving win.

And the optimism was back.

Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Then during a trip out to the West Coast, a place where the Bucs have notoriously been bad, Tampa Bay fell behind 14-0 early to the national anthem-kneeling Colin Kaepernick-led San Francisco 49ers. Oh boy. This season was about to get real ugly.

But the Bucs turned it around and flew home from the other Bay area, 34-17 victors.

The roller coaster ride of a season was far from over however, and two weeks later it was the lowest of lows for the Bucs as they were soundly beaten at home in front of a national audience on Thursday Night Football, losing to Atlanta, 43-28.

The 3-5 Bucs were at a crossroad, and it felt like the pewter and red car was stalled on the tracks with a freight train barreling at them moving 100 mph.

Bucs head coach Dirk Koetter was as down in the dumps as we had seen following the loss. Up at the podium that night, Koetter was frustrated. He seemed as lost as his defense did that night trying to cover Julio Jones.

I remember leaning over and mentioning to someone in the press box, how is Koetter going to be able to fire his friend, defensive coordinator Mike Smith, after a 4-12 season?

It was a legitimate question. And one that might have come to fruition had things not changed.

But change it did.

The Bucs players were given a few days off, and the coaching staff went to work.

What were they doing wrong? What can they do to change things? How can they save the Bucs’ version of the Titanic that was sinking faster than Mariah Carey’s singing career on New Year’s Eve?

Communication. Or a lack there of. 

A word we heard numerous times through the first eight games as coaches tried to explain a defense that was just as bad, if not worse than the Lovie Smith version the previous two years. 

When the players arrived back at One Buc the following Monday, following the Thursday night debacle, instead of coaches berating and criticizing, they asked the players for their help. It was a bold move, and one that paid off big time.

Some coaches are egomaniacs. Okay, most coaches are egomaniacs and think their way is the only way. And a lot of times that’s the case. But Smith and his staff left their egos at the door driving into work that Monday morning. 

Things were simplified. Players were given a voice, but also had to verbally communicate more in team meetings, calling out formations and pretending they were on the field while watching plays in the film room. The unit bonded. And the Bucs started winning.

While the Bucs missed the playoffs by the narrowest of margins, the arrow is definitely pointed up.  Like way up.

Players like Jameis Winston, Mike Evans, Cameron Brate and Ali Marpet give the offense optimism and hope for the future.

Players like Gerald McCoy, Kwon Alexander, Lavonte David and Vernon Hargreaves give the defense optimism and hope for the future. 

Koetter, only the second head coach in Tampa Bay to finish his first season with a winning record,  gives fans optimism and hope for the future.

Dirk Koetter and Vernon Hargreaves – Photo by: Mark LoMoglio/PR

General manager Jason Licht gives fans optimism and hope or the future.

Things started rocky for Tony Dungy in his first season back in 1996. We all know how that turned out.

There is a vibe in Tampa Bay that hasn’t been felt in a long time after the team’s first wining season since 2010 when the Bucs finished 10-6. But despite that winning record six years ago, did fans and the community really feel that the team was primed to make a playoff run?

I didn’t. Did you?

The answer ended up being no, as the team followed up their 2010, 10-6 campaign with a 4-12 season. Head coach Raheem Morris was fired. Two years later, quarterback Josh Freeman imploded and was cut mid-season.

Greg Schiano was next. Fail.

Lovie Smith was next. Nope.

But even the most cynical Bucs fans don’t believe history is set to repeat itself with this group. There is too much leadership, from the top to the bottom.

Football is a funny game. The Panthers were nearly at the mountaintop of the NFL world in 2015 and came tumbling back to reality this season. Teams change. Personnel changes. Chemistry changes. Balls bounce funny ways. Teams come back down to Earth.

And that could happen to the Buccaneers in 2017, but I don’t believe it will. 

Not with Winston. Not with McCoy. Not with Alexander.

And not with Koetter.

There’s an optimism in the air, Bucs fans. Can you feel it?

I do.

Even more than I did in September.