The Tampa Bay Buccaneers' 2024 schedule was released on Wednesday night along with the other 31 teams in the league.
The schedule actually sets up pretty well in some spots. The Bucs start off with three of their first four games at home. They also finish up with their last two games at home against division rivals. Their longest stretch away from home from November 24 through December 22, with four of five games on the road, includes only one playoff team from 2023 in the Dallas Cowboys.
However, despite these relative benefits, the schedule makers smacked the Bucs with a brutal stretch in the middle of the season. The Bucs will have to face last season's Super Bowl participants in the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers in back-to-back weeks.
A familiar AFC foe
The Bucs will travel to Kansas City to face the defending champion Chiefs under the lights at Arrowhead Stadium on Monday, November 4 at 8:15 pm ET. The Bucs have played the Chiefs plenty over the last four years, with the teams facing off twice in 2020 and once in 2022. All the games took place in Tampa, including the Super Bowl. Fortunately, the Bucs won the one that mattered the most, claiming Super Bowl LIV 31-9 and handing Patrick Mahomes his only Super Bowl loss.
Tampa Bay's last trip to Kansas City was on November 20, 2016. The Bucs managed to hang on late to clip the Chiefs 19-17.
An extremely challenging follow up
The following week, the Bucs will host the defending NFC champion San Francisco 49ers at Raymond James Stadium. The Bucs will be on a short week while San Francisco will be coming in off a bye, so that's a major built-in advantage for the Niners.
The Bucs have lost three straight to the Niners going back to the 2019 season, and the matchups haven't been particularly close. The Bucs laid an egg each of the last two seasons in Santa Clara, falling 35-7 in 2022 and 27-14 last year.
Oh, and that's not to mention the matchup with the Ravens that comes just two weeks prior to the tilt with the Chiefs. The three best teams in the NFL last year in a four-week period. That's just tough.
However, it will serve as a chance for the Bucs to test themselves and see just how close they are to the pinnacle of the league. And the Bucs will get a very well-deserved bye week once the 49ers leave town. They will undoubtedly need it.
