TAMPA, Fla. -- The headlines were all but written.
They were dreamed, typed and ready to be shipped once the final minutes melted away. Could you believe your eyes most of Sunday afternoon? Could you imagine the praise, the eye-popping goodness that would have been splashed throughout the Web had the Tampa Bay Buccaneers pulled one of the largest stunners in recent memory ... in the NFL's house of screams?
"Shocker in Seattle!"
"Sleepless Schiano, no more!"
"Miracles, not MRSA! #Itsabucslife"
Alas, Russell Wilson took a nice, big "DELETE" button to those lines and more, replacing them with a bottom line of his own after leading the NFC's Loch Ness Monster to 20 points after halftime: The Seattle Seahawks win at CenturyLink Field, again, for the 12th consecutive time.
Yawn.
The Bucs' parting gift: more heartbreak, a flight of more than 2,500 miles home and plenty of time to consider the cruel what-ifs along the way.
"Very tough, tough loss," Bucs coach Greg Schiano said Monday, the sting still fresh. "But there's a lot of good things on that tape."
That's what makes this so crazy. The Bucs have been a slasher film on tape most of the fall, bumbling their way to the bottom of the NFL with the Jacksonville Jaguars. But Sunday, they were more Masterpiece Theatre than nightmare.
Who saw this coming?
-- Their 21 first-half points, all scored in the second quarter, were more than they scored in the entire game against the New York Jets (17), New Orleans Saints (14), New England Patriots (three), Arizona Cardinals (10), Philadelphia Eagles (20) and Carolina Panthers (13).
-- Running back Mike James, in his second career start, had only 40 yards fewer than Marshawn Lynch, Robert Turbin and Wilson combined (158 on 28 carries).
-- Mike Glennon, who most thought was inferior to Josh Freeman to start the year (including this writer), sliced the Seahawks for 168 yards with two touchdowns on 17-of-23 passing. Meanwhile, somewhere at Jerry World, Freeman searched long and hard for the Minnesota Vikings' inactive suite.
Ah, here's the rub. Under Schiano, the Bucs are 0-7 in games decided by three points or fewer. Yes, landing craft have touched down on Mars more frequently than the Bucs have found a way to pull out a close one under Schiano.
So, how do the Bucs flip a fine line?
"I think we just have to do it," Schiano said. "You prepare and you have all that stuff in the bank with all the preparation you have done, and once you do it, it gets easier to do. All the teams, you look back when Seattle started their journey. They weren't doing it right away, and they got better."
The Bucs looked better Sunday. Face it, take the team that took swings at the Seahawks, stick them in September and October, and Tampa Bay beats the Jets, Saints, Cardinals and Falcons. Likely, they give the Eagles and Panthers a run too.
Instead of bumbling, they would be a bonafide threat to some of the NFC's best. Oh, what could be?
"It's just the way things are going right now," Bucs tight end Tim Wright said. "You can't control them. You obviously look back on the game and wish you had this play here, this play here, this call there. It's just the way things are going right now."
The more you look at them, the hard edges on that 0-7 record in games decided by three points or fewer don't dull. At some point, losing becomes part of an identity, like unfortunate freckles or red hair.
This is a wart the size of a goose egg. These days, the Bucs are hiding nothing.
"In my whole life, I've never been part of a team that hasn't won," said Bucs safety Mark Barron, a second-year player who won two BCS titles with Alabama. "But as far as my mind-set, I'm going to come out and give it everything I have every time I step on the field. That's just what they're going to get from me every time."
Those are the kind of words that are music to Schiano's ears. Sunday, the Bucs looked nothing like a team that had quit on its coach. In fact, before a second-half collapse in which they were outscored 17-3, the Bucs looked loose and free, as if someone had lifted a steel blanket off their backs.
Still, another close-game fumble didn't change their bitter bottom line. The Bucs are 0-8 for the first time since 1985, when they started 0-9 under Leeman Bennett. (They finished 2-14.)
Sunday, after moving forward before halftime, the Bucs turned back the clock. They scored on four of their first six drives, gaining 274 yards. On their last five drives, they gained only 76 yards and never ran a play in Seahawks territory.
"They play the way we want to play," Schiano said. "Unfortunately, for whatever many minutes, 58 minutes, we did it better than they did, but they did it better when it counted, and they won the game. So (it's) something we can learn again. But I'm confident with the guys in our locker room and the coaches upstairs. We'll get it turned."
So close to a shocker, yet so familiar with close, bitter defeat.
Yawn.
By now, this ending is cliché.
You can follow Andrew Astleford on Twitter @aastleford or email him at aastleford@gmail.com.
