Jim McMahon to the rescue - once again Rick Stroud, The St.Petersburg Times ,published 1987 The loudmouthed quarterback returned for the Chicago Bears Sunday - the punky one whose life has recently been all scooters and tacos. You remember Jim McMahon? It may have been 11 months and a million commercials since his last snap, but McMahon proved Sunday he can still play savior, resurrecting the Bears to a 27-26 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. With Chicago's offense numbed and looking for the smelling salts, McMahon took over for starter Mike Tomczak in the second half and led the Bears to two touchdowns in the fourth quarter. What's more, the football maverick made it look easy. McMahon applied the cruncher by zooming the Bears 71 yards in six plays, flicking a short touchdown pass to Neal Anderson for the game-winner with 88 seconds to spare. ``It felt good under the circumstances,`` said McMahon, who completed 17 of 24 passes for 195 yards, including the 6-yard TD pass to Anderson. ``It was a chance to come in and get some of the rust off.`` It's been 11 months since McMahon was last seen on a football field, and then he was being planted like a human soybean by Green Bay's Charles Martin. He ended up spending the rest of the year recovering from shoulder surgery. But so pyschologically dependent are the Bears on McMahon that it was no surprise to see him rally his club from a 26-14 deficit. The comeback is second only to his miracle against Minnesota two years ago, when McMahon entered the game in the third quarter and threw touchdown passes on his first two plays. ``The way that happened was bing, bing, bing,`` McMahon said of the comeback win over the Vikings. ``This took awhile. We didn't score on the first possession. We didn't score on the second. We had to keep plugging away. I always feel like I'm in control. But the first couple of series, I just spaced. I was calling the wrong plays.`` McMahon came out winging against the Bucs, and even used one of those gutty forays from the pocket to pick up a first down. But he was sacked three times and threw an interception in his first three series - all of which produced nothing more than Kevin Butler's missed 47-yard field goal. But true to script, the Bucs defense came unglued. McMahon completed six passes and scored on a quarterback sneak to cap a drive that went 85 yards in 10 plays. Butler hooked the point after, but the Bears had closed to 26-20. Tampa Bay failed to produce any points on its next possession, but punter Frank Garcia managed to pin McMahon at the Chicago 15 with 2:44 left in the game. ``Just the fact that he was throwing and making runs for first downs, catapulting us to victory, typified what kind of guy he is,`` said Bears receiver Dennis McKinnon. McMahon is also the kind of guy who lives for moments like this, and the frozen ropes he started throwing during that final drive created major problems for the Bucs. Hehit Willie Gault on the sideline for 19 yards, swung a pass left to Anderson for 6, then right to Ron Morris for 19, left to Gault for 16 and back right to Anderson again. Those passes moved the Bears to the Tampa Bay 6, where McMahon slipped the ball underneath to Anderson, who did a stunning hurdle into the end zone. ``It wasn't much of a throw,`` McMahon said. ``You guys could've caught it. It was only (6) yards, but I figured they'd be in a zone so I called a zone pattern. They were backing off, and after Neal got the ball, I thought he was going to jump right out of the stadium.`` ``Jim McMahon did it and he did it on his own,`` said Bears coach Mike Ditka. ``He used his own discretion on what he wanted to call in the two-minute drill. He's a tough son-of-a-gun. I am not surprised at anything Jim McMahon does. I've always said that. The main thing we have to do is keep him healthy. He's our starting quarterback. He will be until there's an injury, so you can put that to rest.``