'Kings of spring' Tampa Bay meets reality of fall; Vikings up next

Next March, when you find yourself getting way too excited about NFL free agency and how it translates to winning Lombardi trophies, Google "2014 NFL free agency winners."

Somewhere in that pile of, um, articles will be this headline from March 30: "Buccaneers are free agency winners once again."

Seven months later, Tampa Bay has the NFL's worst total defense (422.5 yards allowed per game), its worst scoring defense (34.0) and the NFC's worst record (1-5) heading into Sunday's home game against the Vikings (2-5).

Things are so bad in Tampa that comparisons to the 1976 expansion Bucs — widely considered one of the worst teams in NFL history — are sprouting. Meanwhile, at Winter Park, at least one reporter thought little enough of the Bucs to toss Vikings coach Mike Zimmer the "must-win" question nine days before Halloween.

"I hate getting into the 'must win' things, but it is important for our football team that we win," Zimmer said. "It's probably more important [to achieve] the process of playing well, doing things right, eliminating penalties, the things we did last week that didn't allow us to win the football game."

The Vikings (2-5) are three-point underdogs, but they did win by 13 points over a soft Falcons team that beat the Bucs 56-14 the week before. So, yeah, now appears to be the right time to snap out of a physical funk lowlighted by an offensive line that has contributed mightily to 19 sacks in three consecutive losses.

"Some of it is we are getting beat physically," Zimmer said. "It's not so much the stunts and the games. It's sometimes the protection breaks down because of other factors. … I can go through a ton of them."

"It's been kind of frustrating because I want to be better and I want us to be better because Leslie is a good dude, man," right defensive end Michael Johnson said. "We owe him more than we've been giving him so far."

Although Johnson has only two sacks, he is tied for the lead on a team that ranks 25th in sacks per pass play. He'll line up across from left tackle Matt Kalil, who, according to Pro Football Focus, is tied for worst in the league in sacks (eight) and total pressures (27) allowed.

Zimmer sounded confident Wednesday that coaching will help Kalil regain his form and lost confidence.

"I don't think it's any different than any other position in sports," Zimmer said. "It's a little bit like a hitter in baseball — you get in there and you lose a little bit of confidence and then all of a sudden something clicks and you get back hitting .350 again."

Ironically, standing in Kalil's way now is Johnson, a player Zimmer spent five years developing as defensive coordinator in Cincinnati.

"He kept doing what we were asking him to do, he kept buying into the team concept," Zimmer said. "He'd start out early and he wouldn't have a sack or something. I'd just say, 'Hey keep doing what you're doing and things will work out,' and they eventually did for him."

Johnson said he considered following Zimmer, whom he called his "father figure," to Minnesota. But within an hour of the start of free agency, Johnson, nose tackle Clinton McDonald and tight end Brandon Myers signed with the Bucs. Later that day, cornerback Alterraun Verner became the fourth of what would end up being seven new starters acquired through free agency.

Hence the headlines crowning the Bucs as king of the spring.

"We hit the pavement running," Smith said. "We're not where we want to be right now with a 1-5 record. But behind the scenes, a lot of good things are happening.

"We're close. It's as simple as you have to crawl before you can walk. … As bad as we know our record is right now, we're two games out of first place [in the NFC South]. There's a lot of football left to go."