Four quarters add up well for Bucs Hubert Mizell, The St.Petersburg Times, published 21 December 1992 Losing is never good, but Tampa Bay's near-miss against the real San Francisco giants - the four-time Super Bowl-champion 49ers - warmed the souls of pro football's most notorious losers. "If you can ever use a defeat as a steppingstone to better games and better seasons, this might be it," Bucs center Tony Mayberry said. "After a lot of bad second halves this year, we played four tough and spirited quarters against the best team in the world." San Francisco (13-2) was a 20-point favorite. For Nevada's coldly professional oddsmakers, that's one step from declaring an NFL team legally dead. But the corpse (4-11) came to life Saturday. It took the quintessential 49ers artistry of two Steve Young touchdown grenades to Jerry Rice to fend off the Bucs 21-14. "We didn't get our No. 1 objective - winning - but there's a lot of back-slapping in our locker room," Sam Wyche said. "Right now, there's a lot more pride in being a Tampa Bay Buccaneer. Our playoffs won't come until next year, but the playoff effort has begun." Even after a 10th loss in 11 games, Tampa Bay's head coach had a right to feel a sense of Saturday accomplishment. Before his Bucs came to Candlestick Park, their most recent failures were pitifully punctuated by second halves in which the Los Angeles Rams and Atlanta Falcons outscored them by a combined 49-0. "There was a major different against the Niners, and I only one word can explain it - effort," said Wyche, whose sideline enthusiasm at times bordered on break dancing. "I'm proud of the way my guys went about their work, and I got on a locker-room soapbox and told them so." A good loss indeed. Early on, before the 49ers had a hunch this was going to be a more difficult exam than expected, amateur magician Wyche pulled off a smashing bit of trickery. A slower-paced version of the old flea-flicker became a 51-yard Vinny Testaverde touchdown surprise to Anthony McDowell. Tampa Bay would lose, as usual, but this time the Bucs did it with more class, more style and more effort. There was no sign of quit. They didn't turn to sawdust in the second half. For a change, one of their games was entertaining for 60 minutes. Sam's strugglers have been notorious second-half punching bags. Tampa Bay has outscored its 15 opponents 160-155 in 1992's first halves, but the Bucs have been scorched 207-100 after halftime. Oh, sure, San Francisco too made the second half pay off against the Bucs, using the dual Young-Rice bombs for a game-deciding 14-7 edge. But this one was so different from the Tampa Bay norm, in both attitude and performance. Keith McCants, after weeks and weeks a disappointment at defensive end, became a "Keith McCan" Saturday at middle linebacker with five tackles, a fumble recovery and repeated quarterback pressures. Santana Dotson shifted from tackle often, taking an impressive stab at defensive end. The rookie from Baylor achieved his NFL 10th sack. Six days earlier, Tampa Bay's defense had been mutilated by Atlanta's Wade Wilson for five TD passes. There was no rush on the Falcons' quarterback, and Wilson's receivers ran unmolested in the Bucs' secondary. But suddenly, against the world's best offense, and with a patchwork lineup, plus radical position changes by McCants and Dotson, there came three sacks of Young and other memorable pressures, and even a few heroic saves by defensive backs. Something to build on, or an aberration? When you're as good as the Niners, you're prone to make the deciding plays, against contenders like Dallas and New Orleans and surely versus pretenders like the Bucs. And if a San Francisco really needs it, there frequently will come a fortuitous break. Maybe you missed it . . . On Rice's second, and game-winning, touchdown reception, the best receiver ever to play the game did not make a legal catch. A local television station played a tape clearly showing that Rice failed to get both feet planted in the end zone. One shoe was over the line. And, oh, he also appeared to line up offside on the play. Whatever needs to happen - for the Niners to win, or for the Bucs to lose - keeps on happening. It never hurt so good