With a chance to clinch a playoff berth, the old Bucs returned to haunt the 1979 version as they managed to miss three short kicks including two extra points, and a punt, in losing by a single point to division rival Minnesota. The Bucs gained 425 yards in offense, their most ever, and Ricky Bell went over the 1,000-yard rushing mark but it was all to no avail.

STARTERS OFFENSE DEFENSE LT 75 Reavis LDE 60 Chambers LG 64 Horton NT 71 Crowder C 50 Wilson RDE 63 Selmon RG 61 Roberts LOLB 57 Lewis RT 73 Hannah LILB 58 Selmon WR 81 Hagins RILB 54 Wood WR 85 Owens ROLB 56 Johnson TE 88 Giles LCB 45 White TE 86 Obradovich SS 33 Cotney RB 42 Bell FS 34 Brown QB 12 Williams RCB 40 Washington PLAYED 6 O'Donoghue, 16 Blanchard, 23 Ragsdale, 25 Jordan, 27 T Davis, 36 Berns, 38 J Davis, 43 Eckwood, 44 Cesare, 46 Reece, 51 Nafziger, 53 Bonness, 66 Yarno, 69 Austin, 70 Carlton, 74 Sanders, 76 Logan, 77 Kollar, 79 Lewis, 84 Jones, 87 Mucker DID NOT PLAY 14 Fusina, 15 Rae

GAME SCORING TB 9:39-1Q Bell 2 run (kick blocked) TB 13:23-2Q O'Donoghue FG20 MIN 1:48-2Q LeCount 26 pass from Kramer (Danmeier kick) MIN 0:20-2Q Rashad 32 pass from Kramer (Danmeier kick) MIN 13:45-3Q Danmeier FG44 TB 9:03-3Q Davis 16 run (O'Donoghue kick) MIN 3:12-3Q Young 3 pass from Kramer (kick failed) TB 0:19-4Q Williams 13 run (kick blocked)

GAME REPORTS Click here for the gamebook and the play-by-play Click here for Jim Selman's report on the game Click here for Tom McEwen's morning-after column Click here for then Florida-Governor Bob Graham's special article

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING BUCS: Bell 28-101, J.Davis 8-43, Williams 6-39. VIKINGS: Brown 12-52, Young 10-45, White 1-6, McClanahan 1-4, Miller 2-2, Kramer 3-(-1). PASSING BUCS: Williams 38-19-242-0-0. VIKINGS: Kramer 26-15-158-0-3. RECEIVING BUCS: Owens 4-66, Bell 4-43, Mucker 3-48, Hagins 3-37, Giles 1-28, Obradovich 2-24, J.Davis 1-3, Eckwood 1-(-7). VIKINGS: Rashad 6-93, Brown 4-13, Tucker 2-17, Young 2-9, LeCount 1- 26. INTERCEPTIONS BUCS: none. VIKINGS: none. KICK RETURNS BUCS: Ragsdale 5-113. VIKINGS: Edwards 3-132. PUNT RETURNS BUCS: Reece 2-2. VIKINGS: Edwards 3-8. SACKS BUCS: none. VIKINGS: none.

VIDEO CLIPS Once more this season Ricky Bell opened the scoring with a TD run Johnny Davis added his own score in the third quarter The final touchdown and then yet another blocked kick