Know Your Enemy: Week 3 – Tampa Bay Buccaneers

It was a grind, but the Minnesota Vikings made it back-to-back wins inside the division to start the season with a 9-3 win over the Chicago Bears in Week 2. Next up the Vikings stay on the road as they head to Raymond James Stadium to take on the winless Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Know Your Enemy: Week 3 – Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Head Coach: Todd Bowles

Best Players: Baker Mayfield (QB), Tristan Wirfs (OT), Vita Vea (DT), Antoine Winfield Jr (S), Tykee Smith (S)

Current Record: 0-2

The Vikings and Buccaneers were once division rivals in the old NFC Central, when the Bucs joined the division in 1977. Since the 2002 divisional realignment, Tampa Bay has played in the more geographically sensible NFC South, while the Vikings stayed in the renamed NFC North. Competing in the same division for over 20 years means there’s been plenty of meetings between the two teams and it’s the Vikings who lead the series 33-24-0. 

Minnesota dominated in the early years when they shared the same division. However, since leaving for the NFC South, Tampa Bay has won the Super Bowl twice, and have dominated the Vikings head-to-head. Minnesota has only beaten the Buccaneers twice in the last 10 meetings. Tampa Bay has won the last two – including the only time current head coaches Kevin O’Connell and Todd Bowles faced off against each other.

The Season So Far

It has not been a good start to the season in Tampa Bay, losing both games so far against AFC North opposition in one-score games. The Buccaneers fell short against the two teams from Ohio – Cincinnati Bengals and Cleveland Browns. It is the first time since 2014 that Tampa Bay have started the season 0-2 and the Vikings will be looking to increase the pain in Week 3.

The pressure will be on Todd Bowles to get a result. Even in an NFC South division that has been weak in recent years, starting the season 0-3 is a borderline disaster. All four teams in the division lost in the opening week but Carolina and New Orleans both won in Week 2 and at least look to be making progress with young quarterbacks at the helm. The Buccaneers don’t have any major injury concerns coming into this week.

Players to Watch

Baker Mayfield has enjoyed playing the Vikings, winning both games he has played against them – once with the Browns and once with the Buccaneers. He’s not had a great start to the season with just 398 passing yards, 1 touchdown, and 1 interception to show from the first two games. Brian Flores and his defense showing up in Week 3 won’t make life any easier.

Second-year wideout Emeka Egbuka caught that solitary touchdown pass, and with Mike Evans now in San Francisco, and Chris Godwin at the back end of his career. Egbuka is now the focal point of the Buccaneers’ passing attack. After a 1000-receiving yard rookie season, Egbuka has gotten off to a slow start in 2026 just 79 yards so far. Mayfield and Egbuka are going to have to find their connection if Tampa Bay is going to win.

Leading up to the 2020 draft there was a lot of hope that the Vikings would pick Antoine Winfield with their second first-round pick. The son of a Vikings great – Antoine Winfield Sr – who played his college football in Minnesota, Winfield left the the fanbase hungry for him to become a Viking. That didn’t happen, and Tampa Bay picked him up in the second round. In hindsight, Minnesota should have picked him alongside Justin Jefferson and they’d have had two first-team All-Pros from that draft. This will be Winfield’s third game against the Vikings, he was on the winning side in the previous two.

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