90hp Force - Can you mix up the throttle and gear shift cables?

Hello - new to this forum and need some diagnostic advice. I have 1993 Bayliner Capri with a 90HP Force engine that I bought last year. I was trying to adjust the carbs to get them to fully open. I followed the Link and Sync process to do this and I removed both the gear shift and throttle cables and adjusted the throttle cable to allow the carbs to open fully at WOT when the throttle lever is fully forward.

Put everything back together. Seemed to run good on muffs in the driveway. Took it out in the water yesterday and it ran strong for a few minutes and then it lost power and make a rattling noise. It shifts into forward and reverse gears okay. Engine runs fine in neutral, but doesnt seem to have any power and it doesnt sound right.
any ideas? Is it possible to mix up the two cables when they were re-attached to the engine?
I'm worried I did something wrong and messed up the lower unit. Not sure how that would have happened but dont have much experience with outboard motors.

I appreciate any advise from folks on this forum with Force motor experience.

The shift cable is the first one to move.-----------Now start with a compression test , the rattle is a concern.-----Mixing gas and oil at 50:1 on this motor ?

rattle is my biggest concern as well, the motor seems to be fine in neutral, revs without any noise so Im worried about the LU. I use a high performance snowmobile synthetic 70:1. I will add more to the gas to get it back to 50:1

As far as I am concerned an outboard will rev in nuetral on 2 of 4 or 2 of 3 cylinders.-----Testing like that means NOTHING to me.

Like Racer suggested.
A compression test and then a spark test.
You can hook them up backwards but nothing will work.