The playoff picture got much clearer Sunday, particularly in the NFC with five of the six spots clinched.
When Green Bay blanked the Los Angeles Raiders 28-0 and Detroit rallied to beat Chicago 20-14, both winners secured postseason berths. It also set up an NFC Central title showdown next Sunday at Detroit.The winner of that game will play host to an NFC wild-card team the next week.
In the AFC, which Buffalo has won the last three seasons, the Bills beat the Jets 16-14 to take the East championship. It was the fourth time in the five seasons that Buffalo finished first in the division that the clincher came against New York.
When the Jets and Raiders lost, it clinched a playoff spot for the Kansas City Chiefs, who were at Minnesota Sunday night. A Vikings loss set up the possibility of a team with a 7-9 record making the playoffs in the NFC.
Also Sunday, New Orleans continued its freefall, losing at Philadelphia 37-26. Both are 7-8, yet remain alive for the playoffs.
Atlanta's playoff hopes disappeared with a 21-14 defeat against Cincinnati.
In a game with no postseason implications, New England won its third straight, 38-0 over Indianapolis.
In other late games, it was Cleveland at the Los Angeles Rams. The Giants and Cowboys already are in the playoffs.
On Saturday, Houston beat San Francisco 10-7.
Monday night, it's Miami (9-5) at San Diego (6-8).
Packers 28, Raiders 0
The kickoff temperature was zero, second-coldest in the history of Lambeau Field, and the wind chill was minus-22, third-coldest in the history of the fabled stadium. The Packers (9-6) merely shrugged and shut out the Raiders (9-6).
Darrell Thompson ran for 101 yards, including a 60-yard score, and the Packers had eight sacks - 21/2 each by John Jurkovic, Tony Bennett and Reggie White.
"Thank God it's over, but it actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be," White said. "But it's the coldest I've ever played in."
The Raiders, who lost quarterback Jeff Hostetler to a concussion in the third quarter, still can make the playoffs.
Green Bay's Sterling Sharpe became the first NFL receiver to have two 100-catch seasons. He now has 106 after making seven receptions for 119 yards.
Lions 20, Bears 14
The Lions (9-6) had won just one of nine previous games against the Bears (7-8) in Soldier Field. But backups Erik Kramer and Eric Lynch lifted Detroit.
Kramer was 23-of-31 for 223 yards and two touchdowns, hitting all six for 47 yards in the Lions' winning TD drive in the fourth quarter. Lynch, filling in for injured Barry Sanders, had 131 total yards.
"We've got to be excited about having a chance to win the division," Kramer said. "That's our whole season, by beating the Packers next week."
The Bears took a 14-13 lead on a 1-yard dive by Jim Harbaugh, who had just 107 yards passing.
Bills 16, Jets 14
For those fearing a fourth straight Super Bowl appearance by Buffalo, Sunday's result can't be comforting. 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.
"I'm just feeling my toes now," Christie said. "I couldn't feel the ball. You know where the ball is, you think you know where your foot is. Hopefully, the two will meet."
Johnny Johnson had 175 total yards for New York (8-7).
Eagles 37, Saints 26
Philadelphia ended a five-game home losing streak as Eric Allen tied an NFL season record of four interception returns for touchdowns by getting two against the slumping Saints.
The Eagles sacked Mike Buck for a safety and forced a critical fumble to key an 18-point second quarter. Allen had TD returns of 33 and 25 yards.
Buck and Steve Walsh, replacing injured Wade Wilson, were a combined 6-for-18.
"Our QB play wasn't good enough at all," coach Jim Mora said. "Our quarterbacks need to do two things: they must make the plays that help you win and do the things that don't get you beat. Our quarterbacks didn't do either."
Bengals 21, Falcons 14
At Cincinnati, David Klingler's third TD pass of the game was a 6-yarder to Carl Pickens with one minute left as the Bengals (3-12) drove 70 yards for the winning score.
The 21 points were the most for the Bengals this year.
Atlanta (6-9) lost to three of the league's worst teams - Tampa Bay, Washington and Cincinnati - this season. Erric Pegram carried a career-high 37 times for 180 yards.
Patriots 38, Colts 0
Before the smallest NFL crowd of the season, 26,571 in a wind chill of minus-20 at Foxboro Stadium, the Patriots (4-11) staged their biggest rout in 14 years. The Patriots have won only 13 games in the 1990s, five against the Colts (4-11), losers of seven of eight.
Leonard Russell ran for 97 yards in the first quarter and 138 yards overall, giving him 1,060 this season. Corey Croom added 93 yards and Drew Bledsoe threw for two scores.
Seahawks 16, Steelers 6
At Seattle, Jon Vaughn, a forgotten man in Seattle's offense, had a day the Pittsburgh Steelers will long remember.
Vaughn, who had only six carries this season going into Sunday's game, replaced an ailing Chris Warren and had a career-best 131-yard performance on 26 carries in a 16-6 victory over the Steelers.
John L. Williams had 86 yards on 14 carries as the Seahawks ran for 267 yards against the NFL's No. 1 rushing defense.
The Seahawks (6-9) tripled their 1992 win total and broke a four-game losing streak. They handed Pittsburgh (8-7) a bitter defeat in its bid for an AFC wild-card berth, although the Steelers remain alive in the race.
Vaughn, acquired in a trade with New England on Aug. 15 for a draft choice, finally got a chance to get some extended playing time because Warren, the Seahawks' 1,000-yard rusher, was out with a strained abdomen.
Buccaneers 17, Broncos 10
At Denver, the Broncos claimed a playoff spot Sunday despite a 17-10 loss to the upstart Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who got two touchdown passes from Craig Erickson.
Erickson's second TD throw, a 14-yarder to Courtney Hawkins early in the third quarter, was set up by a controversial fumble by Denver punt returner Glyn Milburn - one of three second-half fumbles by the Broncos.
Despite the setback, Denver (9-6) gained a wild-card playoff berth because of losses by Pittsburgh and the New York Jets (both 8-7). Denver holds the tiebreaker edge.
Playing as if they knew the playoff outcome ahead of time, the Broncos self-destructed with turnovers and penalties to help the Buccaneers (5-10) snap a 20-game road losing streak to AFC teams.
Browns 42, Rams 14
At Anaheim, Calif., Vinny Testaverde, passing against the league's worst secondary, rewrote a longstanding NFL record for completion percentage Sunday, connecting on 21 of 23 throws in the Cleveland Browns' 42-14 rout of the Los Angeles Rams.
The Browns (7-8) turned the game into a runaway with three fourth-quarter touchdowns: on a 56-yard punt return by Mark Carrier and 1-yard runs by Kevin Mack and Tommy Vardell following turnovers by the Rams (4-11).
Testaverde threw for 216 yards and two scores, and one of his two incompletions was intentional. He completed his final 13 throws and his completion percentage of 91.3 topped the record, based on at least 20 attempts, of 90.91 (20 of 22) set by Ken Anderson of Cincinnati against Pittsburgh on Nov. 10, 1974.
The Browns limited rookie Jerome Bettis of the Rams, who came into the game as the NFL's leading rusher, to 56 yards on 16 carries. That cost Bettis his lead, with Emmitt Smith, who gained 153 yards for Dallas on Sunday, taking over with 1,318 yards to Bettis' 1,283.
Cardinals 17, Giants 6
Four weeks ago, the New York Giants stole a game from Phoenix with a last-second field goal. On Sunday at Tempe, Ariz., the Cardinals played a little payback with the leaders of the NFC East.
Ron Moore got 110 of his 135 rushing yards and scored twice in the second half, and the Cardinals kept the Giants without a first down in the third period, keying a 17-6 victory which ended New York's six-game winning streak. The loss left the Giants tied for first place in the division with Dallas, which defeated Washington 38-3 on Sunday. New York plays the Cowboys next Sunday.
Moore scored on runs of 19 and one yards after Greg Davis kicked a 20-yard field goal for the first Phoenix points.
Defense kept the Cardinals in it in the first half, holding the Giants to a 6-0 lead on David Treadwell field goals of 19 and 22 yards.
And defense took over in the fourth quarter, when the Giants got new life after Mark Collins intercepted a Steve Beuerlein pass in the end zone.
Cowboys 38, Redskins 3
At Irving, Texas, Troy Aikman and Emmitt Smith played Sunday like they were worth every penny of their total $63.6 million contracts.
Aikman, a fresh $50 million contract in the bank, threw two touchdown passes and Smith regained the NFL rushing lead and scored a touchdown as the Dallas Cowboys rolled to a 38-3 victory over the Washington Redskins.
The win set up an NFC East championship showdown with the New York Giants in the Meadowlands on Jan. 2.
The defending Super Bowl champions are 11-4 after losing their first two games of the season without Smith, who eventually signed a $13.6 million contract.
The Giants are 11-4 after losing 17-6 to Phoenix. The winner gets homefield advantage throughout the NFC playoffs.
Dallas was in no mood to overlook the Redskins (4-11), who had whipped the Cowboys 35-16 in the opening game of the season.
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.