Two more thrilling overtime games saw the Kansas City Chiefs avoid a huge upset to book their play-off spot while the Dallas Cowboys suffered a shock loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The Jaguars scored with a late pick of six as Dallas lost a 17-point lead.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers also gave up the same lead as Tom Brady racked up unwanted records losing to the in-form Joe Burrow’s Cincinnati Bengals.
Jalen Hurts led the Philadelphia Eagles to a 13th win of the season.
After the Minnesota Vikings historic response On Saturday, the Jaguars and Bengals both added 17 points to mark the first time in league history that three teams had overturned such a big deficit in the same week.
Meanwhile, the resurgent Detroit Lions have won yet again and have a shot at qualifying for the play-offs.
Jaguars stun Cowboys, Chiefs escape Houston
It looked like an easy task on paper for the Chiefs to beat the Houston Texans to a win and claim a seventh straight AFC West title, but in the end they needed Jerick McKinnon’s touchdown in overtime to win. a 30-24 win to get the job. Finished.
Only the Patriots with 11 have a longer division winning streak than Kansas City’s current dominating run, but with Patrick Mahomes at quarterback, the Chiefs have found a rare level of consistency as they make yet another run. at the Super Bowl.
“I think one of the hardest things in the National Football League is consistent success,” Chiefs owner Clark Hunt said.
“The rules are designed to make it difficult, whether it’s the draft or the salary cap. So it’s a real testament to the work that general manager Brett Veach and coach Andy Reid have done over the past few years.”
As the Chiefs escaped, the Dallas Cowboys couldn’t as they blew a 17-point lead to lose 40-34 through Rayshawn Jenkins scoring an interception return touchdown for the Jacksonville Jaguars in overtime .
Jenkins took Dak Prescott’s angled pass from 52 yards to seal a big upset win for the Jags who, aided by four passes from Trevor Lawrence TD, made it 6-8 to keep them connected in the AFC South after the Tennessee Titans loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.
“I was racing for dear life,” Jenkins said. “My hamstrings are about to shoot and everything.”
Lions still hot as Eagles head for top seed
Hurts threw two interceptions and no touchdowns, but that was no problem for the Eagles quarterback as he ran in three-pointers to help Philadelphia beat Chicago 25-20 to tie their team record with a 13th win of the season.
It was also Hurts’ 13th TD of the season, putting him just one behind the NFL quarterback record, while on the other side, Justin Fields of the Bears also had a historic night by becoming the third QB to reach 1,000 rushing yards in a season.
Chicago, however, has lost seven straight and needs a big improvement to give its star QB a chance next season, like Philly did with Hurts, who is right there in the MVP picture after a another full display.
The Detroit Lions’ turnaround could still lead to an unlikely play-off spot as from a 1-6 start they are now 7-7 after Jared Goff threw a late 51-yard pass to Brock Wright to beat the New York Jets 20-17.
Both teams are now 7-7 and just outside the wildcard points, but while the Burning Lions are expected to return to the play-offs after six seasons, the Jets’ 11-year drought looks more likely to continue after three. straight matches. defeats.
Cincinnati stuns Brady in second half, Patriots self-destruct
Brady was 89-0 when he held a 17-point home game lead during his career before the Tampa Bay Buccaneers imploded to help the Cincinnati Bengals win 34-23 and win lead their division with an eighth victory in nine.
In a classic two-half game, the Bucs dominated to go 17-3 at halftime, but Brady committed four career turnovers on consecutive possessions in the second half to help Burrow throw four TD passes and to win the game.
The Bucs are still top of their division, but Brady has now lost eight games in one season for the first time in his 23-year career and must win the last three to avoid a losing first season in the NFL.
Brady’s former team, the New England Patriots, also pressed the self-destruct button as they found a dramatic way to lose to the Las Vegas Raiders on the very last play of the game.
With the game tied at 24-24 and heading into overtime, New England’s Jakobi Meyers attempted a wild back pass to keep the last play of regulation time alive, only to throw it straight at Chandler Jones , a former Patriot, who made it 48 yards. to pull off a Raiders win out of nowhere.
Losing on such a huge mistake will boil Bill Belichick, especially as he drops the Pats to 7-7 and faces a big scramble to grab a wildcard spot.
Elsewhere, the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Carolina Panthers 24-16, the New Orleans Saints were 21-18 winners over the Atlanta Falcons and Brett Rypien replaced Russell Wilson as the Denver Broncos defeated the Arizona Cardinals 24-15.
