1995 Tampa Bay Buccaneers season
| 1995 Tampa Bay Buccaneers season | |
|---|---|
| Head coach | Sam Wyche |
| General manager | Rich McKay |
| Owner | Malcolm Glazer |
| Home field | Tampa Stadium |
| Results | |
| Record | 7–9 |
| Division place | 5th NFC Central |
| Playoff finish | did not qualify |
| Team MVP | MLB Hardy Nickerson |
The 1995 Tampa Bay Buccaneers season was the franchise's 20th season in the National Football League.
The season began with the team trying to improve on an 6–10 season in 1994, a season in which the team won 4 straight games at the end of the year, and four of their final five. It was Sam Wyche’s final season as the team's head coach.
Prior to the season Malcolm Glazer took over ownership of the team, then the Bucs drafted defensive lineman Warren Sapp and linebacker Derrick Brooks, both of whom are recognized as two of the team's greatest ever players. The Buccaneers' first-ever draft pick, Lee Roy Selmon, was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
There had been rumors as far back as the end of the 1993 season that new owner Glazer would move the team after funding to improve Tampa Stadium was not obtained, but a referendum kept the Bucs in Tampa for 1995. The possibility of moving the Buccaneers to Cleveland, Ohio was an undercurrent throughout the 1995 season once Art Modell’s relocation of the Browns to Baltimore was announced.
Bucs Head coach Sam Wyche gained some notoriety for saying "Five dash Two" to reporters during a press conference after the seventh game of the season, referring to the team's 5-2 record at the time. Tampa Bay had won 9 of its previous 12 games, going back to the end of the 1994 season, and many observers felt they had become a sleeper NFC playoff contender. However, the good luck and victory string soon ran out, and the team would go 2-7 for the remainder of the season.
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