Vinny gift-wraps Vikings' victory Michelle Kaufman, The St.Petersburg Times, published 1988 Two weeks ago, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers embarrassed themselves for 17 seconds as they scrambled to get off a potential game-winning field goal in a 14-13 loss to the Minnesota Vikings. Sunday afternoon, in front of the biggest Tampa Stadium crowd this year - 48,020 - the humiliation lasted much longer. Not even Donald Igwebuike could pull the Bucs (2-6) out of this one. Quarterback Vinny Testaverde threw six interceptions - three of them resulting in Viking touchdowns - and Minnesota easily got itself a much-needed 49-20 victory. The Vikings (5-3) had been crushed in two of their previous three games and their playoff hopes were growing dim. A two-day trip to Tampa Bay solved that. The Bucs made it so easy that the Vikings drove 47 yards or less on four of their touchdowns and got a fifth on a 37-yard interception return. Things were going so bad for the Bucs that they finished the game with 28 yards rushing on 16 attempts. The 49 points were the most ever given up by the Bucs at home, and the most scored by the Vikings since 1974. Six interceptions was one short of the game-record for Bucs quarterbacks, and set a record for the Minnesota defense. After eight games, Testaverde is just two interceptions short of the Bucs' season record held by Doug Williams, who had 24 of 397 passes intercepted in 1979. The pro football record is held by George Blanda, who threw 42 interceptions in 1962 with the Houston Oilers. Seventeen of Testaverde's 22 interceptions have been in Tampa Stadium. Testaverde completed 19 of 45 passes (42 percent) Sunday for 223 yards and a touchdown and heard a career's worth of boos. "I just played stupid today,” said Testaverde, who threw for 469 yards against Indianapolis seven days earlier. “Last week I took a giant step forward, and now I'm where I was two weeks ago. I tried to force big plays, and that's stupid. I have to learn from this and then just try to forget it ever happened.” Vikings coach Jerry Burns said, “Testaverde is young, and I felt sorry for him when he was booed. He's only in his second year and he has a great future.” For the first time this year, coach Ray Perkins considered benching Testaverde and putting in Joe Ferguson (the fans were chanting “We want Joe” as he third quarter expired) but then he changed his mind. “It occurred to me,” Perkins said, “but then I contradicted my thought. I figured I'd let him work his way out of it. He got himself in it. He's just trying too hard to get the ball in the end zone, and he has to learn that he's not Superman. He can't do it all by himself, and he can't take things away from defenses in this league.” Though Testaverde didn't say it, he implied that he might have preferred being yanked as the day wore on. “I just want to do what's best for the team,” he said. “I thought he (Perkins) would've put Joe in and let me sit for a few series, but I really don't know what coach Perkins was thinking. Maybe he thought it would have affected my confidence, but it wouldn't have. I'm a strong person and I can bounce back from anything.” Other players insisted they share the blame for the loss. “If people just blame Vinny for this loss, then they don't understand what's going on,” said cornerback Donnie Elder, one of the Bucs' bright spots Sunday with four kickoff returns for 110 yards (a 27-yard average). “We let them get away with too many big plays.” Vikings quarterback Wade Wilson, who replaced Tommy Kramer as the starter this week, completed 22 of 30 passes (73 percent) for 335 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions despite being sacked four times. Anthony Carter, a native of Riviera Beach, was at the receiving end six times for 123 yards and one of the touchdowns. Tight end Steve Jordan had six catches for 79 yards and two touchdowns, and Hassan Jones of Clearwater and Florida State caught four passes for 77 yards. Among those big numbers were catches of 38, 39, 26, 21, 49 and 20 yards. “The defense didn't play as bad as the score shows, but we gave up some big plays in the first half,” said linebacker Kevin Murphy. “The turnovers were frustrating for us. But we don't get down about them, because if we got down, we might as well quit after the first seven points.” Unlike the previous seven games this year, this one started with the Bucs scoring first. Tampa Bay had been outscored 71-0 in the first quarter before Sunday. The second play of the game was a perfectly thrown 41-yard bomb to Bruce Hill, who finished the game with six catches for 84 yards. The Bucs got down to the Vikings' 1 1/2-yard line, but that extra half-yard was a bit too far for Lars Tate to dive on third down. The Bucs settled for an 18-yard field goal to take a 3-0 lead. The Vikings were forced to punt on their first possession, but Testaverde gave them back the ball immediately when it “slipped out” of his hand and into the hands of wide-open cornerback Issiac Holt. Holt returned it 15 yards to the Bucs' 15, and the Vikings went ahead 7-3 shortly thereafter on a 4-yard catch by Jordan. The Bucs started their next drive from the Vikings' 41, thanks to a 38-yard kickoff return by Elder and a personal foul on Joey Browner. Hill caught an 8-yard touchdown pass 2:37 later, and Buc fans rose to their feet as the scoreboard operator lit up the number 10 on the Bucs' side. The Vikings' next two touchdowns came within 23 seconds of each other, the second a 26-yard catch by Carter after Testaverde had the ball stripped from his hand by Chris Doleman and recovered by Tim Newton. Minnesota led 21-10 with 11:09 left in the first half. The Bucs got the ball in great field position (the Vikings' 28) with 6:52 left in the half after Minnesota punter Bucky Scribner was pressured by Robert “Pig” Goff and Bobby Futrell ripped off a 40-yard return. The result of the special teams' big play: another Testaverde interception. This one was stolen by cornerback Carl Lee, and intended for Hill. Testaverde admitted later that throwing to Hill was a mistake, considering he was covered by three defenders. Testaverde's next bad pass went Carrier's way in the end zone, but landed in Browner's palms. Browner picked off another one a second before halftime. The Bucs' second-half points were scored on a 32-yard Igwebuike field goal and a 1-yard dive by Tate. The Tampa Bay offense gained only 68 total yards in the second and third quarter. Minnesota piled it on with a Brad Edwards interception return, a 4-yard run by Allen Rice and a 2-yard run by D.J. Dozier, playing his first game of the year. As the clock ticked down to 13 seconds, Testaverde threw a Hail Mary pass down the right sideline. It was intercepted. An appropriate ending for his day.