You don’t need a rivalry trophy to make a Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs Minnesota Vikings game feel like it matters, and today’s edition matters plenty. Today, Sunday, September 27, 2026, the Buccaneers host the Vikings at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, kickoff set for 4:05 p.m. ET, with FOX carrying the broadcast nationally in select markets.
This is officially the 58th all-time meeting between these two old NFC Central rivals, and the storylines are stacked on both sides. Tampa Bay is 0-2 and desperate for its first win of the season, while Minnesota rolls in 2-0 and sitting alone atop the NFC North. Somewhere in the middle of all that sits Kyler Murray, expected back under center for the Vikings after a scary Week 1 concussion, and Baker Mayfield, trying to prove his new record contract with the Buccaneers wasn’t handed out a year too early. So here’s everything worth knowing before kickoff – where both teams stand right now, how the vikings vs buccaneers history has actually played out across nearly five decades,the full tampa bay buccaneers schedule and minnesota vikings games rundown for the week ahead, and where to watch tampa bay buccaneers vs minnesota vikings today.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers: A Costly 0-2 Start Under Pressure
Nobody in Tampa is panicking publicly, but there’s no hiding the tension. Todd Bowles enters Week 3 as the coach under the brightest spotlight in the building, and it’s not hard to see why. The Buccaneers spent the offseason losing three of their defensive and locker-room pillars – Lavonte David retired, Jamel Dean signed with Pittsburgh, and Mike Evans left for San Francisco – all while handing Baker Mayfield a contract extension through 2029 that made him the highest-paid player in franchise history.
So far, that bet hasn’t paid off. Tampa Bay opened the year with a 33-27 loss to the Bengals in Cincinnati, then followed it up with a 23-19 home defeat to the Browns in Week 2, a game that included a lengthy weather delay and a stalled final drive. Mayfield has posted modest numbers through two tampa bay buccaneers games – 21-of-34 for 182 yards with a touchdown and an interception in the loss to Cleveland – and the offense as a whole has struggled to find rhythm behind a shuffled receiver room. Anyone tracking the tampa bay buccaneers games log so far this year will notice the same pattern in both losses: competitive for three quarters, then unable to finish.
What Makes Tampa Bay’s Offense Tick
- Bucky Irving doing the heavy lifting – the young back has 36 touches through two weeks and is getting 75% of the carries inside the 20
- Emeka Egbuka and Tez Johnson stepping into bigger receiver roles after Mike Evans’ departure
- Chase McLaughlin still money from distance, a weapon Tampa Bay leans on in close games
- Vita Vea and the run defense anchoring a front seven that’s actually outplaying the record so far
Tampa Bay Buccaneers Snapshot
| Detail | |
| Division | NFC South |
| Franchise QB | Baker Mayfield |
| Head coach | Todd Bowles (under pressure entering Year 5) |
| GM | Jason Licht |
| Identity | Ball-control run game, opportunistic defense |
| Recent form | 0-2 start, back-to-back one-score losses |
| 2026 season start | 0-2 after losses to Cincinnati (33-27) and Cleveland (23-19) |
Tampa Bay’s next test after this Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs Minnesota Vikings meeting is a road trip, and the full tampa bay buccaneers schedule shows a team that badly needs to find its footing before the NFC South gets away from them. Fans combing through upcoming tampa bay buccaneers games for a turnaround spot will circle this one first, since Minnesota is banged up on the offensive line and breaking in a quarterback who hasn’t played meaningful snaps since Week 1.
Minnesota Vikings: Riding a 2-0 Start Into Kyler Murray’s Return
Minnesota’s story right now is almost the mirror image. The Vikings are 2-0, they’re getting strong play from a defense that’s shut down two divisional offenses, and the big question hovering over the building is simply: what does this team look like with its starting quarterback back on the field?
Kyler Murray signed a one-year deal with Minnesota in March after his release from Arizona, beat out J.J. McCarthy in training camp, and was named the Week 1 starter by head coach Kevin O’Connell on August 11. His debut lasted all of 11 snaps – a first-quarter concussion in the season-opening 39-22 win over Green Bay ended his day early, and Carson Wentz finished the job, then started Week 2 outright in a 9-3 grind-it-out win over Chicago. Murray has since cleared the concussion protocol and is expected to start today.
None of that has slowed down Justin Jefferson, who caught eight passes for 92 yards and two touchdowns in the Week 1 win, including a 39-yard score that was the longest catch of his career by air distance. New general manager Nolan Teasley, hired this offseason after helping build a champion in Seattle, has stacked the roster around O’Connell’s system, and the Minnesota Vikings enter today looking like one of the more complete teams in the conference – on paper, at least.
What Makes Minnesota’s Offense Tick
- Justin Jefferson still doing Justin Jefferson things, regardless of who’s throwing him the ball
- Kyler Murray’s legs adding an element the Vikings haven’t had at quarterback in years
- Jordan Addison and a retooled receiver room giving Minnesota real depth outside of Jefferson
- Dallas Turner emerging as a real problem off the edge, with multiple sacks already this season
Minnesota Vikings Snapshot
| Detail | |
| Division | NFC North |
| Franchise QB | Kyler Murray (2026, one-year deal) |
| Head coach | Kevin O’Connell (5th season) |
| GM | Nolan Teasley (1st season) |
| Identity | Physical defense, dual-threat quarterback play |
| Recent form | 2-0 start, first place in the NFC North |
| 2026 season start | 2-0 after wins over Green Bay (39-22) and Chicago (9-3) |
Every one of Minnesota’s minnesota vikings games this year will be filtered through the Murray question, and today’s trip to Florida is the first real test of what this offense looks like at full strength.
NFL Schedule This Week (Week 3, 2026)
Kickoff for today’s game is 4:05 p.m. ET / 1:05 p.m. PT from Raymond James Stadium, with FOX handling the broadcast. Here’s a quick look at where both sides go from here on the tampa bay buccaneers schedule and the broader slate of minnesota vikings games this season.
| Team | Next Matchup | Date | Location |
| Tampa Bay Buccaneers | vs. Minnesota Vikings, then bye-week planning ahead | Sun, Sept 27 | Home |
| Minnesota Vikings | at Tampa Bay Buccaneers, then vs. Miami Dolphins | Sun, Sept 27 / Oct 4 | Away / Home |
Both franchises have plenty on the schedule to look forward to – Minnesota already knows it has Miami up next, while Tampa Bay’s tampa bay buccaneers schedule turns immediately toward divisional business in the NFC South.
Head-to-Head History: The Full Timeline
This series stretches back to 1978, long before either franchise looked anything like it does today, and the vikings vs buccaneers history is lopsided in a way a lot of casual fans might not expect.
| Date | Winner | Location | Score | Notes |
| 09/10/2023 | Buccaneers | Away | 20-17 | Mayfield’s Bucs debut, season opener |
| 12/13/2020 | Buccaneers | Home | 26-14 | Start of an eight-game Bucs win streak |
| 2014 meeting | Vikings | Home | – | Snapped a potential Bucs streak |
| 1984 (Tampa) | Buccaneers | Home | 35-31 | James Wilder shootout win |
| 1984 (Minneapolis) | Vikings | Away | 27-24 | Jan Stenerud field goal as time expired |
| 1978 | Buccaneers | Away | 16-10 | First-ever Bucs win over a division rival |
Minnesota holds the all-time edge at 33-24, built almost entirely during the two franchises’ quarter-century together in the old NFC Central, when the Vikings went 31-17 against Tampa Bay. Since realignment sent the Buccaneers to the NFC South in 2002, the tables have flipped – Tampa Bay is 7-2 against Minnesota as interdivision opponents, including a five-game winning streak that stands as their longest ever in this series.
A Few Things Worth Pointing Out
- Minnesota has had three separate five-game winning streaks in this series, all bunched between 1984 and 1993
- Zero playoff meetings between these two teams across 57 all-time games
- The five overtime games in this series are tied for the second-most the Buccaneers have played against any opponent
- Tampa Bay has won the last two meetings, in 2020 and 2023
- The largest win by either side belongs to Minnesota, a 45-13 rout back in 1986
Three Eras of the Rivalry
Split it up, and the vikings vs buccaneers history really breaks into three distinct chapters of this buccaneers vs vikings series.
Era 1: Minnesota’s Decade of Dominance (1977-1993) The Vikings won 15 of 19 meetings during the 1980s alone, and Wade Wilson built a reputation as a genuine Buc-killer during this stretch, throwing for 335 yards and three touchdowns in a 49-20 Minnesota win in Tampa.
Era. 2: The Buccaneers Turn It Around (1997-2010) Tampa Bay’s own franchise turnaround, sparked in 1997, started chipping away at Minnesota’s lead, with the two sides trading the series back and forth for nine straight seasons.
Era 3: The Modern Rivalry (2014-Present) The most recent stretch has belonged to Tampa Bay – a 2020 win that kicked off an eight-game run to a Super Bowl title, and the 2023 opener that gave Baker Mayfield a signature win in his Bucs debut. Today’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs Minnesota Vikings matchup adds another chapter to that run, with both teams walking in from very different starting points this season.
Minnesota Vikings vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers Match Player Stats: The Last Meeting
With today’s outcome still to be decided, the last actual meeting is still the best available snapshot of how tight this series can get – and it’s the clearest recent minnesota vikings vs tampa bay buccaneers match player stats breakdown on record.
Buccaneers 20, Vikings 17 (Sept. 10, 2023)
Baker Mayfield’s Buccaneers debut didn’t start smoothly – he opened just 3-for-11 – but he settled in, throwing two second-half touchdowns without a turnover to beat Minnesota on the road in the Vikings’ own home opener. Chase McLaughlin’s 57-yard field goal with five minutes left proved to be the difference, and the Buccaneers’ defense sealed it by forcing back-to-back three-and-outs down the stretch.
Passing Leaders
- Kirk Cousins (MIN): 33-of-44, 344 yards, 2 TD
- Baker Mayfield (TB): 21-of-34, 173 yards, 2 TD
Rushing Leaders
- Alexander Mattison (MIN): key short-yardage touchdown drive
- Bucs backfield: controlled the clock late with a four-minute drill
Receiving Leaders
- Justin Jefferson (MIN): 9 catches, 150 yards
- Mike Evans (TB): 6 catches, 66 yards, 1 TD
That full minnesota vikings vs tampa bay buccaneers match player stats line – 369 total yards for Minnesota against 242 for Tampa Bay – tells you the Buccaneers won this one on situational football rather than yardage, forcing three Minnesota turnovers and winning the takeaway battle 3-0. It’s the kind of game both fan bases will be thinking about heading into today’s rematch, and it’s worth bookmarking as the template minnesota vikings vs tampa bay buccaneers match player stats comparison until today’s box score is final.
Where Both Teams Stand Entering Today’s Game
Two weeks in, the records read 0-2 and 2-0, but the underlying numbers are closer than the standings suggest. Minnesota’s offense has ranked outside the top 18 in the league in efficiency through two weeks, largely because it has played most of that stretch without Kyler Murray. Tampa Bay, meanwhile, has been competitive in both losses without finishing the job.
| Stat | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | Minnesota Vikings |
| Record | 0-2 | 2-0 |
| Points Allowed Per Game (run D) | Middle of pack | Coughing up ~100 rush yds/gm |
| Turnover Battle (season) | Mixed | Mixed |
| QB Status | Baker Mayfield, healthy | Kyler Murray, cleared protocol |
| Key Weapon | Bucky Irving (36 touches) | Justin Jefferson |
Between the two rosters, this Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs Minnesota Vikings clash is being framed by bettors as close to a coin flip, and the numbers back that up more than the raw records do. Once today wraps, expect an updated minnesota vikings vs tampa bay buccaneers match player stats sheet to circle almost entirely around Murray’s efficiency and Irving’s workload.
Venue and Conditions
Raymond James Stadium has hosted plenty of big Buccaneers moments over the years, including the franchise’s Super Bowl LV run, and it’s the site of today’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs Minnesota Vikings meeting for a reason – Tampa Bay wanted the extra boost of a home crowd behind an 0-2 team trying to reset its season. Late-September afternoon kickoffs in Tampa typically mean heat and humidity, conditions that can wear on a Minnesota team that plays half its home games indoors at U.S. Bank Stadium. That’s a small but real factor for a Vikings offense trying to find its footing with Kyler Murray back in the lineup after missing a game and a half.
Expect both sidelines to manage the clock carefully in the fourth quarter given the conditions, and don’t be surprised if the run games on both sides – Bucky Irving for Tampa Bay, and whichever back Minnesota leans on behind Murray – end up mattering more than the box score suggests heading in.
Coaching Matchup: Bowles vs. O’Connell
These two have crossed paths before, and it’s a matchup between a coach fighting for his job and one trying to keep a young contender on track. Bowles is in a fifth season defined by pressure after last year’s collapse cost the Bucs several veteran leaders. O’Connell, entering year five himself, has quietly built one of the more stable coaching situations in the NFC, even while cycling through quarterbacks behind Justin Jefferson.
| Factor | Tampa Bay (Bowles) | Minnesota (O’Connell) |
| Experience level | 5th season, seat warming up | 5th season, division favorite |
| Offensive identity | Run-first behind Irving | Vertical passing built around Jefferson |
| Program status | Retooling on the fly | Contending now |
Betting Angle: What the Odds Say
Given the 2-0 versus 0-2 records, it’s no surprise Minnesota opened as the favorite, though only a slight one. Lines had the Vikings around -1.5 to -122 on the moneyline, with Tampa Bay getting +1.5 and +102, and the total sitting near 42.5 points.
That number leans on recent form more than history – Minnesota’s defense has been stout, but its offense has looked pedestrian without Murray for a game and a half, while Tampa Bay has been competitive in every game without notching a win. Handicappers are split, with several noting Tampa Bay is 5-2 against the spread in its last seven meetings with Minnesota, a trend worth knowing before locking in a pick on this buccaneers vs vikings card.
Where to Watch Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs Minnesota Vikings
- National broadcast: FOX carries today’s game at 4:05 p.m. ET / 1:05 p.m. PT
- Streaming: FOX One and NFL+ cover the game for out-of-market viewers, with NFL Sunday Ticket as another option
- Location: Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, Florida
- Tampa Bay’s local coverage: 98ROCK handles Buccaneers radio broadcasts
- Minnesota’s local coverage: Vikings flagship radio affiliates carry the game back home in the Twin Cities
If you’re trying to figure out where to watch tampa bay buccaneers vs minnesota vikings today, FOX and its streaming partners are the simplest starting point, and local radio fills in the gaps for either fanbase on the road or at home.
Injury Report Notes
Both sides enter this Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs Minnesota Vikings game with items to monitor. Tampa Bay ruled out rookie outside linebacker Rueben Bain Jr. and rookie linebacker Josiah Trotter ahead of kickoff, thinning an already young front seven. Minnesota’s most important injury update is the one that matters most – Kyler Murray clearing the concussion protocol in time to start, after Carson Wentz filled in capably but unspectacularly across a game and a half. Beyond Murray, both training staffs have managed relatively clean injury reports through two weeks, which is part of why oddsmakers see this as such a close call on paper.
What’s Next for Both Teams
Tampa Bay is chasing its first win of the season and, more broadly, trying to prove last year’s late-season collapse was an aberration rather than a preview of things to come. A loss today would put a genuinely difficult 0-3 hole in front of Bowles and a locker room that’s already down several familiar faces.
Minnesota, on the other hand, is trying to show that a 2-0 start built mostly without its starting quarterback can turn into something more sustainable now that Kyler Murray is back. The Vikings’ remaining minnesota vikings games this season only get tougher from here, with the Dolphins on deck the following week.
Neither club’s season hinges entirely on this one afternoon, but for a Tampa Bay team still searching for its first win and a Minnesota team hoping to validate its hot start, today’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs Minnesota Vikings result will shape the storylines heading into October.
Key Matchups to Watch
A few individual battles inside this Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs Minnesota Vikings game will go a long way toward deciding it.
Bucky Irving vs. Minnesota’s run defense. The Vikings are surrendering close to 100 rushing yards per game so far, and Irving has been the most reliable weapon on either roster through two weeks. If Tampa Bay can establish him early, it changes the entire rhythm of the afternoon and keeps Baker Mayfield out of obvious passing situations against a defense that thrives on pressure.
Justin Jefferson vs. Tampa Bay’s secondary. Jefferson has been productive regardless of who’s throwing him the ball, and with Kyler Murray reportedly healthy, the Buccaneers’ cornerbacks are in for a long day if they can’t disguise coverage. Whatever happens, expect Jefferson’s name to dominate any minnesota vikings vs tampa bay buccaneers match player stats recap written after the final whistle.
Dallas Turner vs. Tampa Bay’s offensive line. Turner has flashed real pass-rush ability already this season, and containing him will be central to keeping Mayfield upright and giving the Buccaneers’ shorthanded receiver room a chance to operate.
Vita Vea and the Bucs’ front seven vs. Kyler Murray’s mobility. Murray’s legs have always been part of what makes him dangerous, and Tampa Bay’s run defense – one of the better units in the league against the ground game – will need to account for designed quarterback runs as much as traditional handoffs.
Player Props and Fantasy Angles
For fans treating this as more than just a Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs Minnesota Vikings watch party, a few names stand out on the prop and fantasy boards. Bucky Irving’s workload makes him a lock for anytime-touchdown consideration, especially given how often Tampa Bay has fed him inside the 20 through two tampa bay buccaneers games this season. On the other side, Justin Jefferson remains a must-start regardless of matchup, and any uptick in Kyler Murray’s rushing attempts would only add to his ceiling in a game that could turn into exactly the kind of shootout the total suggests.
Defensively, keep an eye on both pass rushes – Dallas Turner for Minnesota and the deep Tampa Bay front for the Buccaneers – since a swing in the turnover battle has decided each of the last two meetings between these franchises.
Read Highlights: Denver Broncos vs Los Angeles Rams | Dallas Cowboys vs Baltimore Ravens
Quick FAQs
Minnesota, 33-24 all-time, though Tampa Bay leads the interdivision matchups since 2002.
No. All 57 meetings have come in the regular season.
September 10, 2023 – Buccaneers won 20-17 in Minnesota’s home opener.
FOX at 4:05 p.m. ET, with FOX One and NFL+ streaming it live.
Watch Bucky Irving’s touches and Justin Jefferson’s target share above all else.
FOX Sports and NFL.com post the complete box score right after the final whistle.
Yes – he’s cleared concussion protocol and is expected to start.
Minnesota, by roughly 1.5 points on most sportsbooks.
An 0-2 Tampa Bay team hosting a 2-0 Minnesota squad getting its starting QB back.
Source: NFL
