The NFL turns 100 years old this season, and there has been a lot of changes in pro football since its debut a century ago. Let’s take a look at 10 of the biggest changes over that time, followed by a look at the 10 biggest changes to the Buccaneers franchise since 1976, which is the year Tampa Bay entered the NFL as an expansion franchise.

10 Biggest Changes In 100 Years Of NFL Football

1. The Forward Pass

Before the 1933 rule change allowing the forward pass, football was essentially a form of rugby. Now the quarterback is the most important position in football, and the NFL has tailored its rules to highlight and favor the passing game.

2. The Draft

Bucs DT Vita Vea – Photo by: Getty Images

Before 1936, pro football teams would engage in bidding wars to sign amateur players. For the sake of parity and competitive fairness, the league instituted the draft – becoming the first pro league to do so. Other pro leagues in other sports would later follow suit and conduct drafts of their own.

3. Racial Integration

Segregation wasn’t banned in the United States until 1964, and the NFL before that time was a league largely made up of white players. There were a handful of African-American players in pro football in the 1930s and 1940s, but when the NFL and AFL merger took place that became the catalyst for more racial tolerance within the league. Progress still needs to occur, but the league is now comprised by around 70 percent with African-American athletes. And the stigma surrounding black quarterbacks was broken by pioneers like Warren Moon and Doug Williams.

4. The NFL-AFL Merger

In 1959, the AFL was formed as a rival league to the NFL, but it didn’t last long. The NFL quickly saw the AFL compete for college talent and foster a more exciting brand of football that featured the passing game. The NFL did the wise thing and merged with the AFL in 1966 creating a 24-team league with an AFC and an NFC.

5. The Super Bowl

Jon Bon Jovi at Super Bowl XXXVII – Photo by: Getty Images

With the AFL-NFL merger came the creation of the Super Bowl, which essentially pit each league against each other in 1967. The Green Bay Packers from the NFC defeated the Kansas City Chiefs of the AFC at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, 35-10, and began an event that quickly became the most viewed sporting event and television program on an annual basis. The Super Bowl is annually one of the most bet on sporting events with Betway NFL across the globe.

6. The Halftime Show

The Super Bowl halftime show has become one of the biggest music and entertainment stages worldwide with electric – and sometimes controversial – performances by Janet Jackson, Justin Timberlake, Prince, Beyonce, Katy Perry and Bruce Springsteen just to name a few. But this wasn’t always the case. Michael Jackson was tabbed to do the halftime show in 1993 and that started a trend of singers and bands vying for the opportunity of a worldwide audience.

7. The Schedule

The early years of NFL football were a free-for-all when it came to scheduling. There wasn’t even a championship until 1933 when the Chicago Bears beat the New York Giants. The league went to a 12-game schedule until 1978 when the number of games played increased to 16 games. Now there is talk of expanding the regular season to 18 games and shortening the preseason to just two contests.

8. The Helmets

Former Bucs CB Dwight Smith – Photo by: Getty Images

The league began with leather helmets that barely protected players’ skulls. In the 1940s, the NFL moved to plastic helmets with facemasks. Technology has improved to provide better protection and to prevent CTE brain injuries, and more companies are involved in making helmets. More competition means a better product and hopefully less brain trauma for the players and lawsuits for the league.

9. The Salary Cap

The creation of the NFL Draft was one way to level the playing field, and the introduction of the league’s salary cap was another. Plan B free agency was started in 1994 and players have had the freedom to change teams once their contracts are up ever since.

10. International Expansion

The NFL began the practice of playing exhibition games in London in the 1980s and has also ventured into Mexico. Now the league plays in both countries during the regular season, starting in Mexico in 2005 and in London in 2007. In 2013, the Jaguars agreed to play one home game each year in the United Kingdom, and the NFL now plays at least two regular season games per year in England.

10 Biggest Changes With The Bucs Since 1976

1. Bucs Go From 0-26 To Division Champs

Tampa Bay’s franchise began in 1976 with a winless 0-14 season that losing continued into the ’77 campaign. After a 0-26 start, the Bucs finally prevailed at New Orleans to with their first game. In two short years – and without the help of free agency, which wasn’t a thing until 1994 – head coach John McKay took the Bucs to the NFC Championship Game in 1979 after winning the team’s first division title, which was an incredible feat.

2. Williams, Dungy Are African-American Pioneers

Former Bucs coach Tony Dungy – Photo by: Getty Images

In 1977, the Bucs drafted Doug Williams, an African-American quarterback with their first-round pick to help break certain stigmas that existed in the NFL at that time. The Bucs became the first franchise to draft three African-American QBs in the first round when they added Josh Freeman in 2009 and Jameis Winston in 2015. Tony Dungy became the first African-American head coach in Tampa Bay in 1995 and the Bucs became the first NFL team to hire three black head coaches when Raheem Morris was promoted in 2009 and Lovie Smith was hired in 2014.

3. The Pewter Pirates

The Bucs franchise began with orange and white uniforms and a winking pirate on Tampa Bay’s helmet dubbed “Bucco Bruce.” The Bucs wore that uniform from 1976-1996 before the Glazers, who bought the franchise in 1995 after the death of original owner Hugh Culverhouse, completely changed the look of the team. The Bucs changed their colors to red and pewter, and donned new uniforms and helmets that had a red pirate flag with a skull, a football and crossed swords in 1997. Tampa Bay ended a 13-year playoff drought with their new look and went on to win four division titles and a Super Bowl as the pewter pirates.

4. The Tampa 2

Dungy and Monte Kiffin installed a Cover 2-based 4-3 defense in 1996 that quickly rose to prominence and became known as the “Tampa 2” around the league. Kiffin kept tweaking and perfecting the defense after Dungy was fired following the 2001 season and produced the NFL’s No. 1 defense in 2002 that helped the Bucs win the Super Bowl, send several players to the Pro Bowl and put defensive stars Warren Sapp and Derrick Brooks in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

5. Bucs Made The Trade Of The Century

After Dungy was fired after the 2001 season for losing at Philadelphia in the first round of the playoffs in back-to-back years, the Glazers made a bold move and traded for Oakland head coach Jon Gruden, who was having trouble getting a contract extension with the Raiders. The Glazers sent two first-round picks, two second-round picks and $8 million in cash to Raiders owner Al Davis in exchange for Gruden, who retooled the offense and allowed the Bucs to get past Philadelphia in the 2002 NFC Championship Game and win the team’s first and only Super Bowl.

6. Bucs Win The Super Bowl

The Glazers & Jon Gruden – Photo by: Getty Images

The Bucs entered the NFL in 1976 as laughing stocks, losing their first 26 games, but finally rose to prominence and won the franchise’s first Super Bowl in 2002, which is also the year the team switched from the NFC Central division to the new NFC South division after NFL realignment when the league expanded to 32 teams. Tampa Bay had been close to the Super Bowl twice before, losing in the NFC Championship Game in 1976 and 1999, but finally beat Philadelphia thanks to a 92-yard pick-six from cornerback Ronde Barber to send the team to Super Bowl XXXVII in San Diego. Gruden would beat his former team, the Raiders, 48-17 with wide receiver Keenan McCardell scoring twice and Tampa Bay’s defense adding three pick-sixes in the rout.

7. Tampa Bay Travels Overseas

Tampa Bay has always had a strong European fan base, especially in the United Kingdom due to the tourists that visit Florida from across the Atlantic latching on to the Buccaneers. The Bucs made their first regular season trip to play in London in 2009 when New England trounced Tampa Bay 35-7. The team made the return trip just two years later to lose 24-18 to Chicago. The Bucs get a third shot at getting an international win when they return to London to face Carolina in Week 6 this year.

8. Clock Number Jerseys Debut

The Bucs made some tweaks to their logo, helmet and uniforms in 2014 and the new look was met with mixed reviews. The team’s colors are still red and pewter, but the pirate flag logo was changed to look more menacing, which is cool. But fans haven’t embraced the changes to the uniforms, which feature digital clock-looking numbers – likely because the team has had just one winning season and no playoff appearances in those new unis.

9. 3-4 Defense Comes Full Circle

When Bruce Arians was hired in 2019 to replace Dirk Koetter, he brought with him Todd Bowles and his 3-4 defensive scheme. The previous seven head coaches dating back to Sam Wyche in the early 1990s had run a 4-3 scheme, including a 13-year run from 1996-2008 under Kiffin, who along with Dungy created the Tampa 2 defense. The original Bucs defense was a 3-4 scheme under McKay, the team’s first head coach, in 1976. Over 40 years later the 3-4 defense has returned to Tampa Bay.

10. Bucs’ Busts In The Hall Of Fame

Bucs legendary DT Warren Sapp – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Two decades after entering the league in 1976, the Buccaneers saw defensive end Lee Roy Selmon become their first player inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1995. After winning Tampa Bay’s first Super Bowl, Sapp became a first-ballot Hall of Famer in 2013. The following year, Brooks also became a first-ballot Hall of Famer. Two years later, Dungy was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2016. The Bucs’ four Hall of Famers matches the Falcons (4), Saints (4) and Seahawks (4), and are more than several other NFL franchises, including the Ravens (3), Bengals (1), Texans (1), Jaguars (0) and Panthers (0).