Sunday afternoon on the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wis., the myth that no team can host the Super Bowl was officially put to rest.
The aggressive play of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on both sides of the football made the difference. There was timely play-calling and the moxie of their stubborn defense to turn away the Packers with only six points after quarterback Tom Brady’s three touchdown passes sent the Bucs to a 31-26 win in the NFC Championship Game.
The Buccaneers earned a berth in the Super Bowl a match-up with the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs at their very own Raymond James Stadium in two weeks. Ironically, the home field Super Bowl game will occur after winning against three division champions on the road in the past three playoff weekends.
“To be able to come home to play a Super Bowl at our place, not have to get on a plane and do all the things that this crazy year has us doing – it will be weird,” said Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians.
It was a day when the Buccaneers would have to get aggressive and stay aggressive to win the football game. It was an afternoon when Brady would throw for 280 yards and three touchdowns, but his three second half interceptions on three successive drives would keep the Packers in the game and give them opportunities to take the lead – which the Buccaneers’ defense snuffed out.
Nursing a 14-10 lead, Sean Murphy-Bunting recorded his third interception of the playoffs with 34 seconds left in the first half. Instead of running out the clock from his own 33-yard line, Brady, Arians and offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich decided to bring the heat to the Packers’ defense.
Leonard Fournette had a pair of six-yard runs. The second one was a daring call on 4th-and-4 at the Green Bay 45.
“I sent the punt team out and I went through a couple scenarios in my mind,” explained Arians. “The clock was stopped and I said, ‘No, we’re going back out. We’ve got a good play. We’re going back out and trying to get some points.’”
That’s exactly what they did.
Brady hit Scotty Miller on a 39-yard touchdown pass that gave the Buccaneers to 21-10 halftime lead with the series of plays that defrosted any ice-glittered blade of grass on that frozen field.
On the touchdown pass, Miller ran by Packers corner Kevin King who was up in press coverage instead of giving him a cushion.
“They played me pretty much man-to-man and my guy didn’t get too much depth, so I was able to just run right by him,” said Miller. “Then, Tom put a great ball on me like he always does.”
The play was monumental and fell in line with the aggressive attack with the downfield passing game that allowed Tampa Bay to take a 7-0 lead on the first drive of the game. Brady found wide receiver Mike Evans on a 15-yard touchdown pass.
It also was a precursor to how Arians and Leftwich would call the offense after Mason Crosby hit a 26-yard field goal with 2:09 remaining in the game which allowed the Packers to edge close to the Buccaneers at 31-26 with Green Bay still having all three of its timeouts left.
Brady hit Evans on a nine-yard pass play immediately afterward to set the Bucs up with a 2nd-and-1 on their own 26 as the idea was to operate in short yardage on the next two plays.
They wouldn’t need those though when defensive tackle Damon Harrison – just added to the team earlier this month – jumped offside to give Tampa Bay a first down. Subsequently, Green Bay was caught with too many men on the field which gave the Bucs another first down.
The show-stopper, which officially sent the Buccaneers sailing into Super Bowl Sunday, came on 3rd-and-5 in Green Bay territory.
Arians revisited the aggressive theme of the day and called an end around to wide receiver Chris Godwin. It was good for six yards, continuing the thrilling ride which has seen Tampa Bay win seven games in a row.
“It’s been a great journey thus far,” said Brady. “We put the work in and a lot of guys just embraced everything when B.A. got here last year. There were a lot of great things that were happening and a lot of great, young players.”
