With some quarterback picking the secondary apart and the clock inching toward doom.
It didn't have to be the Commanders or Jayden Daniels, but it had to be heartbreaking.
That's just the way the Bucs defense played this season.
Tampa Bay blew its last fourth-quarter lead of the season on Sunday night in a 23-20 loss to Washington in the first round of the NFL playoffs. This time, it was a 51-yard drive and a 37-yard field goal by Zane Gonzalez as time expired.
In case you've lost count, it was the fourth time the Bucs had lost on the final play of a game this season. I'm not sure if that's some kind of team record, but I'm absolutely certain it was a fitting finale.
"Everybody was saying the same thing," said cornerback Zyon McCollum. "After every play, it was, 'We've got to punch the ball out. Punch the ball out. Make a play. Get off the field. We've got to keep (Daniels) contained.' You know, we were conscious of everything going on around us.
"But in this game, when the bullets start flying, everything happens in a split second and you have to be able to react. We just had to be better."
Better doesn't cover it.
The Bucs needed a difference-maker on defense. A star. A hero. They needed someone to make a game-changing play, which we haven't seen much since September.
Tampa Bay's defense forced no punts and no turnovers on Sunday.
And that sort of sums up the season. Opposing teams threw 630 passes against Tampa Bay in the regular season, and the Bucs came up with only seven interceptions. Even the 0-14 Bucs of 1976 managed nine interceptions in 321 pass attempts.
"It's nothing you can really explain. Somebody has just got to step up and make a play," said linebacker Lavonte David. "Somebody has got to create a turnover. You've just got to be aggressive. Got to do whatever it takes to get involved."
If we're being fair, the defense endured an outsized share of injuries this season. Jamel Dean and Calijah Kancey both missed five games. Safeties Antoine Winfield Jr. and Jordan Whitehead missed 13 games between them. Christian Izien was hurt. SirVocea Dennis missed most of the season.
But even when they were on the field, this group lacked the kind of splash plays that have been Tampa Bay's calling card in recent years.
"That's football, man," Winfield said. "We've got to do a better job of taking the ball away from teams, but in the end that's just football."
The secondary was always going to doom the Bucs. It was just a question of when.
They tried to hide it, they tried to throw new bodies at it, they tried to paint over it.
In early December the Bucs signed linebacker Deion Jones, who had not played a game in 11 months. A couple of weeks later, they signed linebacker Shaquil Barrett, who had also spent the season in a recliner. They signed safeties Mike Edwards and Ryan Neal after the rest of the league had deemed them expendable.
None of it helped.
Oh, for a short time, it seemed as if the Bucs might have solved the problem.
This was immediately after the bye week and they went on a brief winning spell with better defensive numbers. But, it turns out, that had more to do with the schedule turning soft and squishy rather than the defense turning hard and edgy.
Even if they failed to turn the ball over, the Bucs could have done a better job stopping Washington at critical moments. The Commanders were 8-for-15 on third down and 3-for-5 on fourth down. Even when Washington failed to score, it drove into the red zone before giving the ball up on downs.
The Bucs were second in the NFL in time of possession in the regular season, but they could not get the Commanders off the field on Sunday. Washington ran 69 offensive plays compared to 44 for Tampa Bay. Washington held the ball for 35:26.
"No. 5 (Daniels) is a special player, but we definitely could have gotten them off the field a few more times on third down or fourth down," said Edwards. "(Todd Bowles) said we played hard, we just didn't make enough plays to win a game."
Tampa Bay's offense got only three possessions in the second half. It scored a touchdown, kicked a field goal and lost a fumble.
Mostly, it sat on the sidelines and watched Daniels as he threw for 268 yards and rushed for 36 more.
That's what a special player does in a big game.
And that's what the Bucs defense lacked on Sunday, and too many other Sundays this season.
Sign up for the Sports Today newsletter to get daily updates on the Bucs, Rays, Lightning and college football across Florida.
Never miss out on the latest with your favorite Tampa Bay sports teams. Follow our coverage on Instagram, X and Facebook.