Buccaneers vs. Minnesota Vikings 
LOSS - Tampa Bay Buccaneers 03 Minnesota Vikings 09
A scrambling, improvised 31-yard touchdown pass from Fran Tarkenton to Chuck Foreman on a broken play allowed the Minnesota Vikings to come from behind for the win.
Carl Eller sacked Randy Hedberg in the end zone to give the Vikings an early lead, but the Buccaneers answered with an 18-yard Allan Leavitt field goal. Several key penalties and mental errors hurt the Buccaneers’ prospects of winning. An attempted quarterback sneak from the Vikings’ 1-yard line failed when a tailback forgot to line up, leaving the team with only ten players on the field. Dan Ryczek's clipping penalty took the Buccaneers out of field position and provided the Vikings with a short field for their scoring drive, while Eller's safety was set up when Bill Kollar's late hit on a punt play gave Tampa Bay possession inside their own 10-yard line. The safety destroyed Hedberg's confidence, and he was replaced by Gary Huff after completing only 4 of 14 passes for 51 yards.
Unwilling to give any credit to the Buccaneer defense, the Vikings blamed their poor offensive performance on the wet field. This angered McKay, who thought that the Buccaneers should have been given more credit for a near-upset of a perennial Super Bowl contender. McKay also chafed over Minnesota comments that the Buccaneer offense was predictable and conservative, and accused the Vikings of the same.
Tarkenton completed 25 of 38 passes for 223 yards, but was intercepted once by Dewey Selmon, and his completions were mostly limited to dump-offs to his running backs.
Dave Lewis injured his knee early in the game, and newly acquired ex-Steelers linebacker Paul Harris played well in his place. Ricky Bell's 21 carries were the most yet by a Buccaneer running back, and the Vikings’ 9 points were the least yet allowed by the Buccaneers.
The crowd of 66,272 was the second-largest attendance to date in Tampa Stadium.
GAMEDAY BRIEF
OFFICALS
- REFEREE: Fred Wyant
- UMPIRE: Tom Hensley
- LINE JUDGE: Don Orr
- HEAD LINESMAN: Leo Miles
- BACK JUDGE: Jimmy Rosser
- FIELD JUDGE: Fred Swearingen
SCORING
- VIKINGS: 12:48-2Q Safety - Hedberg sacked by Eller in the endzone
- BUCCANEERS: 01:57-2Q Leavitt FG19
- VIKINGS: 07:25-3Q Foreman 31 pass from Tarkenton (Cox kick)
STARTERS OFFENSE
- WR: #89 J. McKay
- LT: #75 D. Reavis
- LG: #62 J. Winans
- C: #51 D. Ryczek
- RG: #68 D. Medlin
- RT: #70 D. Carlton
- TE: #86 B. Moore
- WR: #85 M. Owens
- QB: #14 R. Hedberg
- RB: #35 J. DuBose
- RB: #42 R. Bell
STARTERS DEFENSE
- LE: #78 C. Rudolph
- DT: #76 D. Pear
- RE: #63 L. Selmon
- OLB: #57 D. Lewis
- ILB: #61 D. Selmon
- ILB: #54 R. Wood
- OLB: #56 C. Johnson
- LC: #45 J. White
- RC: #40 M. Washington
- SS: #33 M. Cotney
- FS: #34 C. Brown
SUBSTITUTIONS
- 4 Green, 9 Leavitt, 19 Huff, 25 Jordan, 28 Davis, 32 L Carter, 36 Winfrey, 43 Williams, 46 Reece, 52 Harris, 53 Bonness, 59 Lemon, 64 Robinson, 65 R Johnson, 66 B Carter, 73 Hannah, 77 Kollar, 79 Wilson, 81 Hagins, 83 Nafziger, 87 Mucker.
DID NOT PLAY
- none.
INACTIVE
- 17 Blount, 80 Novak
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING
- BUCCANEERS: Bell 21-66, Hedberg 6-25, DuBose 3-12, Davis 1-2, Williams 1-0, Carter 2-(-1).
- VIKINGS: Foreman 14-58, McClanahan 9-33, Johnson 4-11, Miller 2-5, Tarkenton 3-(-3).
PASSING
- BUCCANEERS: Hedberg 14-4-51-3-0, Huff 3-1-(-3)-0-0.
- VIKINGS: Tarkenton 38-25-223-2-1.
RECIEVING
- BUCCANEERS: Owens 2-26, McKay 2-25, DuBose 1-(-3).
- VIKINGS: McClanahan 5-46, Miller 5-45, Foreman 4-52, White 3-40, Voight 3-14, Rashad 3-13, Johnson 2-13.
INTERCEPTIONS
- BUCCANEERS: D Selmon 1-9, White 1-3.
- VIKINGS: Krause 1-25, Blair 1-18, Wright 1-5.
KICK RETURNS
- BUCCANEERS: A.Davis 1-27, Hagins 1-26.
- VIKINGS: McClanahan 1-18, Miller 1-17, Grim 1-4.
PUNT RETURNS
- BUCCANEERS: Reece 2-19, Hagins 1-9.
- VIKINGS: Grim 5-15.
SACKS
- BUCCANEERS: Rudolph 1-12.
- VIKINGS: White 1-12, Eller 1-2.
