The San Francisco 49ers' unparalleled receiver caught nine passes for 157 yards and two touchdowns Sunday in a 44-30 loss, then said he'll definitely be back for another season to try to set things right.

	San Francisco's Jerry Rice congratulates Cincinnati's Carl Pickens after the Bengals' 44-30 win Sunday. Rice's team lost, but he enjoyed a banner day with 157 receiving yards.

The 49ers (3-9) clinched their first losing season since 1982 and are heading into the offseason with a lot of big questions: How will they handle their crushing salary cap problems? Will quarterback Steve Young return for another year?

But Rice, 37, was emphatic that he'll be back for a 16th season.

"I'm coming back next year no matter what because of the situation," Rice said. "I don't want to go out like this. I'm going to fight with Terrell (Owens) and J.J. (Stokes) and hopefully we can get this thing turned around.

"I've been stressing that for a long time. When things were not going right, I told everyone then that I didn't want to go out this way. So this one game really didn't make up my mind. I had made up my mind already."

The one game just confirmed that no matter how bad the 49ers' offense may be, Rice will find a way to put up big numbers against the Bengals.

The Bengals passed over Rice to take receiver Eddie Brown in the first round in 1985. In five regular-season games against Cincinnati, Rice has 32 catches for 508 yards with four touchdowns, one of them clinching an improbable last-second comeback in 1987 when the Bengals failed to run out the clock.

In the 1989, Rice set a Super Bowl record with 215 yards in the 49ers' last-minute victory over the Bengals.

Heading into the rematch Sunday, Rice was struggling along with the 49ers offense, which hasn't been the same since Young suffered his latest concussion on Oct. 3.

Rice had only two touchdown catches all season, the last one on Oct. 17. He matched his season total in the second half Sunday.

He caught a 7-yard pass from Jeff Garcia early in the third quarter -- the 49ers' first touchdown pass in six games -- then got behind Rodney Heath and Cory Hall for a 55-yard touchdown catch on San Francisco's next drive.

"The thing about football is you've got to take chances to make big plays," Rice said. "If you don't take chances, then the offense can get a little stale. We took some chances and made some plays."

That was the idea going in. Garcia, making his first start in four games, had a career day, completing 33-of-49 for 437 yards. Rice's two touchdown catches in the second half kept the 49ers in it until the end.

"It was nice to see him get in the end zone again," coach Steve Mariucci said. "It was nice to see him make some plays downfield. We had a chance to attack their secondary a little like they attacked our secondary."

Rice wasn't the only star. The 49ers rolled up 542 yards, Owens had 145 yards on nine catches and seven players caught passes.

"We spread the ball around," Garcia said. "I felt that was a true showing of what the West Coast offense is all about."

And a good showing of what Jerry Rice is all about.