Tony Dungy, the Tampa Bay coach, was...

Tony Dungy, the Tampa Bay coach, was the portrait of class against a garish Ram background.

Unfortunately for Buccaneer fans, he also made two critical mistakes.

During the game, Dungy rarely lost his temper despite several controversial calls that went against his team. Afterward, he entered the Ram locker room to congratulate the winners.

But about that sequence early in the fourth quarter . . .

With his team holding a 6-5 lead and the ball on the Ram 42-yard line, Dungy chose to use a coach’s challenge on a Shaun King fumble that lost five yards even though it was a shrouded play at the middle of the field.

He lost the challenge, and lost a crucial timeout that he could have used late in the game.

Later on the same drive, the Buccaneers were facing fourth and three from the Ram 35-yard line.

Instead of using strong-legged Martin Gramatica to attempt a 52-yard field goal--the rookie had connected on three of four attempts from 50-plus yards this year--Dungy decided to go for a first down.

King struggled to call the signals amid the noise, and though he completed a first-down pass to Bert Emanuel, he was assessed a delay of game penalty that nullified it.

“I can’t remember many games tougher than this,” Dungy said. “To be a couple of minutes from the Super Bowl and to have the lead . . .”

Certainly this winter his fans will remind him that he is not the only one feeling it.