It figures that the muddled NFC Central would be without a crowned champion heading into the final week of the season.
Any sector that has four teams in contention for first place with two weeks remaining can't be expected to settle things easily. Two of those teams, Green Bay and Detroit, simplified matters with wins Sunday, ensuring one of them the division title and the other a wild-card spot.The NFC Central title will be settled next Sunday at the Pontiac Silverdome.
Five of the six NFC playoff berths have been decided. The East champion will be determined next week, when Dallas visits the New York Giants.
San Francisco already had won the West before Saturday's 10-7 loss to Houston, the AFC Central champion.
Minnesota can grab the final spot with a win at Washington on Friday. The Vikings are 8-7 and eliminated the possibility of a 7-9 team making the NFC playoffs when they beat Kansas City 30-10 Sunday night. The victory also knocked Chicago out of the race.
The Chiefs were handed the AFC West crown earlier in the day when both the Raiders and Broncos lost.
Buffalo (11-4) took the AFC East with a 16-14 decision over the New York Jets, who barely clung to postseason aspirations.
Also eliminated from contention was Atlanta, which lost to Cincinnati 21-17.
Tonight, Miami is at San Diego and would clinch an AFC wild card with a victory.
Lions 20, Bears 14
Kramer was 23 for 31 for 223 yards and two touchdowns, hitting all six for 47 yards in the Lions' winning TD drive in the fourth quarter. Eric Lynch, filling in for injured Barry Sanders, had 131 total yards as the Lions (9-6) beat the Bears (7-8) for just the second time in the last 10 visits to Soldier Field.
Cowboys 38, Redskins 3
Avenging an season-opening loss at Washington, the Cowboys (11-4) rode their multimillionaires to victory.
Troy Aikman, fresh off signing a $50 million contract, threw two touchdown passes and Emmitt Smith, who has a $13.6 million deal, regained the NFL rushing lead and scored a touchdown.
Aikman hit 16 of 20 passes for 193 yards, and Smith rushed 21 times for 153 yards. Smith, the NFL rushing leader the last two seasons, has 1,318 yards to 1,283 for Jerome Bettis of the Los Angeles Rams.
Cardinals 17, Giants 6
Ron Moore got 110 of his 135 rushing yards and scored twice in the second half as the Cardinals (6-9) snapped New York's six-game winning streak and made up for a bitter 19-17 loss at Giants Stadium earlier this season.
Seahawks 16, Steelers 6
At Seattle, the Seahawks (6-9) broke a four-game losing streak as Jon Vaughn, who had only six carries this season, replaced 1,000-yard rusher Chris Warren and had a career-best 131-yards. John L. Williams added 86 yards as the Seahawks ran for 267 against the NFL's No. 1 rushing defense.
Pittsburgh (8-7) barely stayed in contention for an AFC wild-card berth.
Bills 16, Jets 14
In the coldest game in Bills' history - a game-time temperature of 9 degrees combined with a steady breeze for a wind chill of 28-below - Steve Christie kicked three field goals and Cary Blanchard missed three.
Christie, who earlier hit from 38 and 36 yards, made a 40-yarder with 3:48 left to win it. Blanchard missed a 42-yarder with 53 seconds to play.
Bengals 21, Falcons 17
At Cincinnati, the Bengals (3-12) produced their highest points total of the season as David Klingler had three TD passes. The winner, a 6-yarder to Carl Pickens, came with one minute left as the Bengals drove 70 yards.
Browns 42, Rams 14
The smallest crowd for a non-strike game since the Rams (4-11) moved to Anaheim from the L.A. Coliseum in 1980, 34,155, saw Testaverde go 21 for 23 against the league's worst secondary. Testaverde threw for 216 yards and two scores to Keenan McCardell, and one of his two incompletions was intentional.
Eagles 37, Saints 26
At Philadelphia, Eric Allen tied an NFL season record of four interception returns for touchdowns by getting two against the slumping Saints. Allen had TD returns of 33 and 25 yards.
Patriots 38, Colts 0
New England (4-11) has won three in a row, but hasn't won in such convincing fashion in 14 years.
Leonard Russell rushed for two touchdowns and went over 1,000 yards rushing this season with 138 - 97 in the first quarter - and Drew Bledsoe passed for two more.