Stealers Rick Stroud, The St.Petersburg Times, published 14 December 1998 Tony Dungy wouldn't let the Bucs focus their eyes on the prize for fear they might overlook an opponent. But now that they have evened their record and the race for the final NFC wild card, he has given the okay to sneak a glance at where they fit in the playoff picture. You could say the Bucs are peeking at the right time. Tampa Bay intercepted four passes and forced a fumble to set up the only touchdown in a 16-3 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers in Sunday's soggy home finale at Raymond James Stadium. With a third straight victory - their longest winning streak of the season - the Bucs reached the .500 mark for the first time in over a month at 7-7. More important, Tampa Bay and Arizona remained tied for the final NFC playoff spot. The Cardinals beat Philadelphia 20-17 in overtime. But it became a two-team race when New Orleans lost to Atlanta 27-17. The Saints play at Arizona on Sunday. The Bucs, meanwhile, head north with a season that hasn't completely gone south. Tampa Bay plays at Washington (5-9) Saturday and finishes the regular season Dec. 27 at Cincinnati (2-12). "It's been a long struggle," Dungy said. "We started out 1-3. We climbed back to .500 with a win over Minnesota and you kind of felt like maybe that would get us going. Then we lose three in a row and have to climb back again. That's something we've talked about, working up the mountain and not stopping halfway. Now we've got a chance, with two games left, to have a winning season, and that's our No. 1 goal. If that leads us into the playoffs, I think it would be great. But we want to win this week and get to No. 8 and get above .500, which is something we haven't done this year." To beat Pittsburgh for the first time, all the Bucs needed was their swarming defense, which held the Steelers to 168 total yards and allowed them to cross midfield just once after their opening drive. Tampa Bay entered the game with an NFL-low five interceptions and nearly matched that total by picking off four Steelers passes. Two interceptions were by safety John Lynch. The Steelers' only success came on their first drive, when they took the opening kickoff and held the ball six minutes before settling for Norm Johnson's 27-yard field goal. After that, the Bucs defense allowed Pittsburgh just six first downs and 102 yards, extending the Steelers' streak to nine quarters without an offensive touchdown. The frustration prompted Steelers coach Bill Cowher to bench starting quarterback Kordell Stewart for veteran Mike Tomczak in the third quarter, after Lynch's first interception. Stewart reacted angrily, pointing his finger in Cowher's face and screaming at him. "Sometimes you're so frustrated you just want to scream and yell and say things you normally don't say," Stewart said. "It just eats you up." Stewart might have had a good argument, because Tomczak was busy losing the game. "He's not as mobile as Kordell Stewart, so we knew we wouldn't have to be quite as hesitant making all our moves," Bucs defensive end Steve White said. "Yes, in a sense we felt like we could tee off a little bit." On his first possession, Tomczak was sacked by White and stripped of the football. The fumble was recovered by Warren Sapp at the Pittsburgh 7-yard line. That set up the Bucs' only touchdown, a 3-yard run by fullback Mike Alstott for a 13-3 lead. The TD atoned for Alstott's fifth lost fumble of the season, the most by any running back in the league. Tomczak was intercepted by Lynch on his next pass attempt, and Cowher went back to Stewart. After the game, Cowher downplayed the sideline exchange with his quarterback. "He's a competitive guy," Cowher said. "I have no problem with that. He wasn't happy about getting benched. My responsibility is to this football team. What I did was try to give this team a spark." What it did was ignite the Bucs defense. Stewart finished 9-for-21 for 88 yards and three interceptions. Not that the Bucs passing game was anything to marvel at. The game was played at times in driving rain and gusting wind. "You know you're not going to be able to make a lot of the fun plays, to squeeze balls in there," Bucs quarterback Trent Dilfer said. "You know there's going to be a lot of bad stuff that happens, and you have to be able to fight through that mentally and be able to accept the bad throw - and there were a few of them today." Dilfer said his "No. 1 objective" was to avoid turnovers. "I don't like playing that way because you don't play as well. But I had to do that today. I knew we could ride our defense, we could ride our offensive linemen. The A-Train (Alstott) was rolling." Alstott rushed for 78 yards. "By no means did I play good football, but I played smart football," Dilfer said. "Sometimes it's not who can play the best, it's who doesn't play the worst." The Bucs have saved their best for last but face the daunting task of returning to the road, where they are 1-5 this season, and to the cold, where they are 0-16 in games when the temperature dips below 40 degrees. "It's a steep hill we're climbing," Dilfer said. "We've gotten through these three games and played good football, but now we've got to go and do something we haven't done very well this year, and that's play on the road. We haven't won in cold weather, and that's a fact. I want to look at the big picture and that's going to be a hurdle. But there's going to be a lot of hurdles these next two games." The Cardinals own the first tiebreaker because their 7-4 conference record is a game better than the Bucs' 6-5 NFC mark. As time was winding down on their victory over the Steelers, the Bucs finally could do a little scoreboard watching. "Of course. I'm not blind," Sapp said. Early in the second half, Sapp said he and defensive tackle Brad Culpepper "were kind of jabbing and joking. We looked up to see it was 17-17 in the Eagles' game and Atlanta was ahead 17-14. We were like, 'Hold on, Atlanta. Come on, Eagles." The Cardinals were the better bird Sunday. But the Bucs are staying right on their tail feathers.