NFC Championship, 2002: Tampa Bay 27 Philadelphia 10

Game information
A game that is now known as Black Sunday in Philadelphia's sports lore, Tampa Bay won on the road for the first time in playoff history, and in temperatures below 32 °F (0 °C), in the last football game played at Veterans Stadium. The Eagles were four-point favorites at home going into the game. The Eagles had beaten the Buccaneers four consecutive times, in the wild card round the two previous seasons, and also during regular-season games in 2001 and 2002. During the two playoff losses, both at Veterans Stadium, Tampa Bay had failed to score a single touchdown.

Eagles running back Brian Mitchell returned the opening kickoff 70 yards to the Tampa Bay 26-yard line, setting up a 20-yard touchdown run by Duce Staley less than a minute into the game. Tampa Bay responded by driving 37 yards and scoring with Martin Gramatica's 48-yard field goal on their ensuing drive. After a Philadelphia punt, Eagles safety Bobby Taylor intercepted a pass from Brad Johnson on the Buccaneers 47-yard line. The Eagles then drove to a fourth down on the 32, but decided to punt rather than try a long field goal. Lee Johnson's 28-yard punt pinned the Buccaneers back at their own 4-yard line. But Tampa Bay stormed 96 yards and scored with Mike Alstott's 1-yard touchdown run to take a 10–7 lead. The key play on the drive was a 71-yard completion from Brad Johnson to Joe Jurevicius on third down and two from their own 24-yard line. According to America's Game, coach Jon Gruden had three receivers stacked tight in a trips formation, and he got Jurevicius on a one-on-one "option" route against the middle linebacker of the Eagles.

Early in the second quarter, Lee Johnson's 64-yard punt pinned the Bucs back on their own 2-yard line. This time the Eagles defense was able to take advantage of the field position, forcing a three-and-out that earned the offense a first down on Tampa Bay 38-yard line after Tom Tupa's 36-yard punt. Philadelphia then drove 26 yards to tie the game 10–10 on a 30-yard field goal from David Akers, but the Bucs responded with an 80-yard, 12-play drive. Johnson completed a 31-yard pass to running back Michael Pittman and a 22-yard strike to Keyshawn Johnson before finishing the drive with a 9-yard touchdown pass to Keyshawn Johnson that gave the team a 17–10 lead. With time running out in the half, Donovan McNabb led the Eagles to the Tampa Bay 24-yard line, only to lose a fumble while being sacked by his high school teammate Simeon Rice, who stripped the ball away and recovered it himself.

On the Eagles' first drive of the third quarter, McNabb lost another fumble due to a tackle from cornerback Ronde Barber, and Bucs defensive tackle Ellis Wyms recovered it. Later on, the Buccaneers took advantage of a 15-yard fair catch interference penalty against Philadelphia that gave them a first down on their own 48, driving 41 yards, including a 19-yard catch by tight end Ken Dilger to score on a 27-yard Martín Gramática field goal with 1:02 left in the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, the Eagles managed to drive 73 yards to Tampa Bay's 10-yard line, but Barber intercepted McNabb's pass with 3:12 left in the game and returned it 92 yards for a touchdown to seal the victory.

This game was somewhat devoid of offensive stars. Jurevicius's single reception for 71 yards made him the leading receiver, while the leading rusher was Staley with a mere 58 yards. Brad Johnson threw for 259 yards and a touchdown. Mitchell, the NFL's all-time leader in both regular season and postseason kickoff return yards, returned four kickoffs for 125 yards and four punts for 34 yards in the final playoff game of his career. The Bucs pass defense continued to show its dominance, as McNabb threw for 243 yards, but no touchdowns, one interception, and a 58.5 passer rating.

This was the last Eagles game played at Veterans Stadium, which was demolished following the 2003 Major League Baseball season. In a Sports Illustrated list of the worst losses in Philadelphia sports history since the city's last title in 1983 published in 2008, this game was ranked first.

Until the Jacksonville Jaguars' appearance in the 2017 AFC championship game, this was the last conference title game to feature a team from Florida.

This was also the Buccaneers' last NFC championship appearance until 2020.

This was the fourth postseason meeting between the Buccaneers and Eagles. Philadelphia had won two of the previous three meetings.

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