1990 Mercury Marquis map sensor

Will a defective MAP sensor cause the car, to hard to start to almost no start when cold, and not restarting after its been running for a while? This all started, one morning, I fired up the car, it idled fast, then idle down, then it would fast idle while driving. Changed the fuel filter and the idle problem seemed to go away. Next thing I know, it wouldnt start right away, took a couple times. Now having almost no luck at all. Ran a code test and, 44 and 77 or 74 ( map and thermal maxor?). Please help, thanks