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Kansas City won the AFC seed and the only playoff pass when Patrick Mahomes threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Demarcus Robinson with just under two minutes for a 17-14 victory. against Atlanta on Sunday.
The Chiefs must have watched Pro Bowl kicker Younghoe Koo miss a tied shot with nine seconds to escape.
The Chiefs (14-1) won their seventh straight game with an NFL record possession and tied a franchise record with their 10th straight win. They’ve eliminated all standings drama from games involving Pittsburgh and Buffalo and will have that coveted AFC bye in the first round when the playoffs begin in two weeks.
The Falcons (4-11) took the lead when Matt Ryan hit Laquon Treadwell for a five-yard touchdown with 4:33 to go. But Mahomes continued to find Travis Kelce who had his own record-breaking game to set up the TD pass to Robinson. And when the Falcons walked the other way in the dying seconds, the Kansas City defense forced Koo’s 39-yard kick.
Instead of heading into extra time, the Falcons returned home with their seventh loss of six points or less this season.
Mahomes finished with 278 passing yards and two interception touchdowns. Kelce had seven catches for 98 yards and one scoring, giving him 1,426 yards for the season, breaking George Kittle’s record for a tight end in the NFL.
Ryan finished with 300 passing yards and two touchdowns. Calvin Ridley had five catches for 130 yards.
Chicago Bears 41-17 Jacksonville Jaguars
The Jacksonville Jaguars went about business against Chicago on Sunday, losing their 14th straight game and then getting some help to secure the No.1 pick in the 2021 NFL Draft.
Hello, Trevor Lawrence!
Mitchell Trubisky made up three scores, including two touchdowns to Jimmy Graham, and the Bears beat the Jaguars 41-17 in a game that meant as much to Jacksonville’s long-term future as it did to Chicago’s short-term fate. .
The Bears (8-7), who took control of their playoff trajectory when Arizona lost to San Francisco on Saturday, can make the NFC playoffs for the second time in three years by defeating Green Bay the next week at home.
The Jaguars (1-14), who set a franchise record for consecutive losses, locked up the first pick for the first time in franchise history when the New York Jets beat Cleveland 23-16 a few minutes later.
This means that the very day Jacksonville hit its worst slippage in franchise history, could end up being a game-changer for the Small Market team who have spent most of the past two decades searching for a franchise quarterback.
The only thing standing between Jacksonville and Lawrence is for the Clemson star to officially go pro, a move expected after the Tigers’ season ends in the college football playoffs.
New York Giants 13-27 Baltimore Ravens
Lamar Jackson led four goal practices in the decisive first half, and the Baltimore Ravens beat the New York Giants 27-13 on Sunday to take control of their own destiny in the playoff pursuit of the ‘AFC.
Baltimore’s fourth straight win, combined with Pittsburgh’s victory over Indianapolis, saw the Ravens overtake the Colts in the AFC wildcard chase. With a victory in Cincinnati next week, the Ravens (10-5) will earn a playoff berth for the third straight year.
The Giants (5-10) lost their third straight and only had a slim chance to make the playoffs.
Jackson guided the Ravens to touchdowns on their first two possessions, then took them from a basket position in his next two practices for a 20-3 halftime lead.
That was more than enough to defeat a struggling Giants team that has totaled just 13 points in their previous two games and scored just two touchdowns in the past three weeks.
Indianapolis Colts 24-28 Pittsburgh Steelers
The Pittsburgh Steelers are the champions of the AFC North. Finally.
Ben Roethlisberger overcame a month-long malaise to throw for 342 yards and three second-half touchdowns as the Steelers claimed the division title with an incredibly unlikely 28-24 victory on Sunday.
Listless and lifeless for weeks on end thanks to a three-game losing streak from an 11-0 start, Pittsburgh (12-3) managed to pull itself together in the last 25 minutes against the Colts (10-5). Indianapolis missed a chance to move closer to a playoff berth by slipping a 17-point lead in the third quarter.
Roethlisberger, who looked uneven at best and ineffective at worst during the recent Pittsburgh slide, came out. He ditched the dink-and-dunk approach that had worked at the start of the season but became far too predictable during a faint in December.
The 38-year-old quarterback started the return with a 39-yard strike against Diontae Johnson and brought the Steelers to a 5-yard touchdown to Eric Ebron. He gave Pittsburgh their first second-half lead since Dec. 7 when he launched into a game that ended with Roethlisberger passing the ball between two Colts to 25-yard-yard JuJu Smith-Schuster with 7 : 38 to play.
Indianapolis, so dominant in a first half where it edged the Steelers 206-28, had two chances to regain the lead in the fourth quarter. The first practice ended with Philip Rivers throwing an interception deep inside Pittsburgh. The second ended with Rivers’ uprising to Zach Pascal in fourth position.
Cincinnati Bengals 37-31 Houston Texans
Samaje Perine capped a 75-yard drive with a three-yard touchdown with 1:57 left and the Cincinnati Bengals turned the game’s opening sack into a 37-31 victory over the Houston Texans on Sunday.
Bengals quarterback Brandon Allen clocked a career-high 371 yards and also threw two touchdown passes and organized the scorers march that saw the Bengals (4-10-1) claim their second straight victory . Cincinnati won the last consecutive weeks 4 and 5 games of 2018.
The Bengals racked up 540 yards, while the Texans had 488. Houston lost its fourth straight game.
Houston (4-11) had taken their first lead at 31-27 when Deshaun Watson caught up with Darren Fells for a 22-yard touchdown with 6:15 left. Watson, who had 324 yards and three touchdowns, set a franchise record with his 30th assist this season. But with 1:28 to go, Sam Hubbard recorded a Watson strip-sack and Margus Hunt picked up the fumble to seal Cincinnati’s victory.
Cleveland Browns 16-23 New York Jets
Jamison Crowder grabbed a touchdown pass and threw a touchdown pass as the New York Jets drew another stunning surprise, this time 23-16 against the visiting shorthanded Cleveland Browns Sunday in East Rutherford, New Jersey. .
Crowder, in the open, hit a 30-yard touchdown from Sam Darnold early in the third quarter as the Jets (2-13) took a 20-3 lead. Crowder had seven catches for 92 yards and added a touchdown pass, while Darnold finished 16 of 32 for 175 yards and two touchdowns.
The Browns (10-5), who came in with a shot at a playoff berth, played without a half-dozen starters. Starting offensive linemen Jedrick Wills (illness) and Wyatt Teller (ankle), linebackers BJ Goodson and Jacob Phillips and the team’s top four wide receivers – Jarvis Landry, Rashard Higgins, rookie Donovan Peoples-Jones and KhaDarel Hodge – not all were available due to a combination. injuries, positive Covid-19 tests and contact tracing.
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