Professer Bell gives his viewpoint Ray Hoffman, The St.Petersburg Times, published 14 December 1981 Theo Bell, the self-appointed professor of big-game preparation, will have a busy week. Professor Bell will be on call around the clock, willing to pass out his free advice on what it will take to beat the Detroit Lions to any member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who cares to listen. When Bell came over from the Pittsburgh Steelers to the Bucs this year, he brought with him the experience of back-to-back Super Bowl wins in 1978 and 1979. Because of this. many of the Bucs look upon him as an expert on the subject of winning crucial games, even though most of them went through the playoffs two years ago when Tampa Bay made it to the NFC championship game. "They all think I've been in this situation so many times before," said Bell, "and I have. I just try to keep them fired up, keep telling them they can do it. "I tell them that I played with guys in Pittsburgh who were no better than they are and that all you have to do is put it in your mind and heart to get the job done." The speech will be repeated often between now and next Sunday when the Bucs play Detroit for the NFC Central championship. Tampa Bay could have decided the issue Sunday and saved itself another week of emotional strain, but the San Diego Chargers were one point better on a field goal with 45 seconds left. Thus, Tampa Bay and Detroit play in their season- ender with 8-7 records, with the winner automatically going into the playoffs and the loser having to wade through the tedious tie-breaker process to see if a wild- card berth will become available. Naturally once Rolf Benirschke's field goal went through, the Bucs' thoughts turned to that Sunday date in the Silverdome, where the Lions have a 7-0 record this year. "A lot of emotion was left on that field today," said Bell. "But these guys are all pros, and we'll put this one behind us real quick. That's the kind of character this team has." Doug Williams, who had another excellent day with 321 passing yards, said he didn't know much about the wild-card system, but said it didn't really matter to him. "I'm not thinking wild card," said Williams. "I'm thinking division championship." Everybody in Tampa Stadium was thinking division championship Sunday when the Bucs went from a 21-10 deficit to a 23-21 advantage on two touchdowns within a space of 27 seconds. It was beginning to look like a celebration was imminent when David Lewis recovered John Cappeletti's fumble at the San Diego 26 with slightly more than six minutes left. At that moment the Bucs had many candidates for meritorious service awards: Williams for his 22-for-35 passing; Bell for his 58-yard touchdown reception; Lewis for his interception that set up the go-ahead touchdown and his fumble recovery; Lee Roy Selmon for causing the fumble; and Cedric Brown for his interception in the end zone that stopped a San Diego drive. But there are no heroes in losing locker rooms. In- stead, the cause is analyzed and victims are selected for blame. Sunday's victims were placekicker Bill Capece and tight end Jimmie Giles because of late failures that enabled San Diego to come back and win it. The missing digit on Tampa Bay's side of the scoreboard was the result of Capece's missed extra point in the fourth quarter which, if made, would have forced San Diego to try for the winning touchdown or settle for a field goal to send the game into overtime. Capece took responsibility, saying Larry Swider's hold was good and that his kick was perfect in every phase except direction. Giles also accepted responsibility for the interception that gave San Diego the ball back after Lewis' fumble recovery and launched the Chargers on their winning drive. Williams got the ball to Giles, but Charger safety Glen Edwards arrived at about the same time and tore the ball loose from Giles. Then, when the ball popped away, line- backer Woodrow Lowe caught it. But in a one-point game, two plays don't make all the difference, and several other players stepped up to give testimony of shortcomings that were too much to overcome. "You can't feel good about the defense when it gives up 24 points," said safety Brown. "When you give up that many, you make the offense work too hard. We knew we were up against a very good passer (Dan Fouts), and we knew we had to come up with some turnovers. We came up with some, but it wasn't enough. We gave up 24 points and that was one too many." If it was important for Tampa Bay to win, it was even more so for the Chargers, who would have been eliminated from the playoffs had they lost. "It was two teams in the same situation," said Williams, "and both of them had the opportunity to win. One did and one didn't." What the loss does is assure a giant television audience in the Tampa Bay market area Sunday when the Bucs wrap their whole season into one game. Logan was already getting excited about playing such a winner-take-all game. "I told everybody weeks ago that this whole thing would come down to one final game," he said. "So it's going to be an exciting conclusion, and all the emotions will be there. It's going to be something the football fans of America can see and enjoy."