There are few teams that ended the year in a more disappointing fashion than Tampa Bay.  Heading into Week 14, a Monday Night showdown with division rival Carolina, they were 9-3, tied for first with the Panthers.  They had lost their 3 games by a combined 11 points, and were looking to take a strangle-hold on the division.  Then the season fell apart in front of a National TV audience.

I remember thinking at the time that NFC South teams had only lost twice at home up to that point, so it would be tough for Tampa to win in Charlotte.  DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart ran all over the Buccaneers defense, en route to 301 yards and 4 TDs.  Tampa Bay then lost on the road in Atlanta, got blown out by the Chargers, and lost to the hapless Raiders in Week 17, where a win would have still gotten them into the playoffs.

So where does a team go after failing down the stretch?  The Bucs have 8 total picks in the draft, 1 in each round and 2 in the 7th round.  Their 6th and 7th round picks have moved around a little.  They moved up 1 spot in the 6th round, trading Dan Buenning to the Bears, after they had given up their pick in round 6 to the Bears for Brian Griese.  They also moved up in the 7th round from last year's draft day trade with Jacksonville, so they could draft Quentin Groves, but traded away their 7th rounder to the Steelers for Sean Mahan.  They also picked up a compensatory pick from Baltimore for Marques Douglas.

I've combined rankings for the Buccaneers based on game stats, and from Football Outsiders.  Here's how the Bucs stacked up this season:

Football Outsiders was dead on with the Pythagorean Wins total.  The defense was top-notch, as has been the norm for the last decade in Tampa.  Their offense, while putting up a decent number of yards, was not very good when looking at the DVOA numbers.  Without delving deep into the numbers, my guess is they had lots of yards on lots of attempts (low averages), or had a lot of gain 8 yards on 3rd and 9.  Either way, the offense struggled.

For a while, it looked like Jon Gruden was going to save his job after the 9-7 season.  Buc's fans got a little excited when Mike Shanahan was fired, hoping that they could hire him.  Here's a poll on Buc' Em from the day Shanahan was fired:

Well, Shanahan wasn't hired, but Gruden and GM Bruce Allen were fired, and head writer at Buc' Em JScott was a little surprised about Gruden:

To say the least I'm pretty shocked. At the onset I agree with Bruce Allen going, Gruden? Not so much. We went to the Post-Season three times (in seven years) under Gruden and he actually had a winning record here, BUT he was stubborn in his play calling and in his dealings with players. At this point, I'm sorry to see him go, but I'm happy to see the Owners Buc' Up if you will and prove they aren't satisfied with mediocrity. Bruce Allen wasnt able to bring in the necessary talent to make this franchise a consistent power house and Gruden to some extent has to be held accountable for that as well...

I think this was a much needed change for Tampa Bay.  Gruden did have a winning record (57-55), including a Super Bowl, but I think he would have had a mutiny on his hands next year, as many players had very strong feelings towards him.  Gruden will be able to win somewhere else; he just needs a change of scenery.

The Buccaneers wasted no time promoting freshly promoted Defensive Coordinator Raheem Morris (he'd only been on the job 3 weeks, replacing long-time DC Monte Kiffen) to head coach.  Morris was the Secondary coach for the Bucs for the past 2 seasons, and seems to be a very good choice amongst Tampa Fans.  It also is scaring the competition.  From Dave the Falconer, head writer at The Falcoholic:

You've just added a couple wins I believe

And if the new guys go in the right direction, you’ll have a young quarterback to groom and some new playmakers on offense. Given that your defense was already hellish, I can’t imagine that’s a good thing.

Also joining the new coaching staff are former BC Head Coach Jeff Jagodzinski as their Offensive Coordinator, and hiring former Denver assistant Jim Bates as Defensive Coordinator.  Jagodzinski is a pretty good hire, as Matt Ryan made him look pretty good this season.  Bates I'm not a fan of.  MTD writer BigBlueShoe shares my opinion on the Bates defense:

Denver's system, designed by former-Dolphin defensive coordinator Jim Bates, relies on big, fat, slow DTs to take on two or more blockers and quick, fast, and tall DEs to shoot upfield. It requires heavy d-line rotation, but QBs like Manning, Brady, and Palmer kill these defenses because they simply don't allow you to substitute.

Along with the promotion of former Pro Personnel Director Mark Dominik to General Manager, the Bucs went young at all the key positions on the coaching staff/front office.  I'm not sure why they didn't do the same with Bates.  This also means they'll (most likely) move away from the Tampa 2 defense, which is kind of named after the team.  I'm not sold on this move, as the defense did not need fixing, and hasn't needed fixing for 10 years.  Why change things up?  The only way this makes sense? Go get this guy.  Otherwise it's a completely unnecessary move.

A disappointing finish caused a huge shake-up in the Tampa organization, which, as a whole, will be a good thing for the Bucs.  Some help in the draft at some key areas will definitely be needed, especially with a (possibly) new defensive scheme.  Expectations won't be as high in 2009, but they could have a pretty good team.