With Christmas falling on Sunday, the normal full slate of NFL games was pushed up a day — giving sports fans an unusual treat on Christmas Eve.
Week 16 delivered some compelling entertainment, highlighted by yet another walk-off win for the Minnesota Vikings.
Here is a look at all the action.
VIKINGS 27, GIANTS 24
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Greg Joseph kicked a career-long 61-yard field goal as time expired, giving the Minnesota Vikings a 27-24 victory that prevented the New York Giants from clinching a playoff spot on Saturday.
T.J. Hockenson had a career-high 13 catches for 109 yards and two touchdowns from Kirk Cousins, who threw for a third score to Justin Jefferson with 3 minutes to go that was set up by a blocked punt and gave the Vikings (12-3) an eight-point lead.
Saquon Barkley’s 27-yard rush right up the middle on fourth-and-2 for the Giants (8-6-1) with 2:01 left and the ensuing 2-point conversion pass from Daniel Jones to Daniel Bellinger tied it up.
But despite a 7-yard sack by safety Landon Collins at the Minnesota 41 that forced the Vikings to burn their final timeout with 19 seconds on the clock, Cousins found Jefferson for yet another clutch third-down completion on a bubble screen. And the NFL’s leading receiver had room to take it all the way before being tripped after a 17-yard gain.
Cousins spiked the ball, and on came Joseph for the on-target kick that had plenty of distance to spare to send the Vikings into a familiar sideline frenzy after yet another tense victory.
The Giants got the help they needed with losses by NFC pursuers Detroit and Seattle, but they didn’t seal the deal with the win to complete the equation of securing a wild-card spot.
BILLS 35, BEARS 13
CHICAGO (AP) — Devin Singletary and James Cook ran for long touchdowns in the third quarter, and the Buffalo Bills clinched the AFC East title by beating the Bears 35-13 on Saturday in one of the coldest games played in Chicago.
Josh Allen ran for a TD and threw for another in the game’s closing minutes, breaking a tie with Hall of Famer Dan Marino for the most touchdowns in a player’s first five NFL seasons. It highlighted an otherwise subpar outing that helped the Bills (12-3) secure their third straight division title with their sixth win in a row.
Buffalo remained on track for the No. 1 seed in the AFC. The Bills remain tied with West leader Kansas City, which beat Seattle, but Buffalo owns the head-to-head tiebreaker after defeating the Chiefs in October.
Chicago’s Justin Fields threw for 119 yards and a touchdown, but ran for a season-low 11 yards after joining Michael Vick and Lamar Jackson as the only QBs with 1,000 yards rushing last week.
The temperature at kickoff was 9 with a minus-12 wind chill _ only three degrees warmer than the record low for a Bears home game. It was Buffalo’s coldest road game by temperature since at least 1967.
A small gathering of bundled-up fans watched as the Bears grabbed a halftime lead. But Chicago (3-12) matched a franchise record with its eighth straight loss.
BENGALS 22, PATRIOTS 18
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — Joe Burrow threw three touchdown passes and the Cincinnati Bengals forced a late turnover in the red zone to preserve a 22-18 win over the New England Patriots on Saturday.
The Bengals (11-4) won their seventh straight game and remained in the driver’s seat for a second consecutive AFC North title despite nearly blowing a 22-0 halftime lead. They clinched a playoff berth by virtue of the New York Jets’ loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars on Thursday night, and they still have a chance at the conference’s top seed and a first-round playoff bye.
The Patriots had the ball on the Cincinnati 5 with just over a minute to play when Rhamondre Stevenson was hit by Vonn Bell and fumbled, leading to Josh Tupou’s recovery. The Bengals punted it back four plays later, but the Patriots turned the ball over on downs.
Burrow finished 40 of 52 for 375 yards and two interceptions. Trenton Irwin had two touchdown catches. Tee Higgins had eight catches for 128 yards and a TD.
The Patriots (7-8) entered the week one game outside of the final AFC playoff spot. They have lost four of five.
CHIEFS 24, SEAHAWKS 10
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes threw two touchdown passes and ran for a score, Kansas City shut down Geno Smith and Seattle’s slumping offense and the Chiefs rolled to a 24-10 victory over the Seahawks on Saturday.
Travis Kelce had six catches for 113 yards, and Kadarius Toney and Jerick McKinnon had touchdown catches as the AFC West champion Chiefs (12-3) remained tied with Buffalo for the conference’s best record with two games to go.
The Chiefs stopped the Seahawks (7-8) twice on fourth down, picked off their Pro Bowl quarterback in the end zone and dealt coach Pete Carroll’s team their fifth loss in six games along with a near-knockout blow to their playoff hopes.
Kenneth Walker III was the biggest bright spot for Seattle, running for 107 yards but failing to reach the end zone.
Kansas City has won 16 consecutive regular-season games against NFC opponents.
Much like the rest of the country, the cold weather that flooded the Midwest produced some frigid temperatures — the wind chill was minus-2 at kickoff, and that was an improvement over the previous two days. In fact, it had been so cold the tarp was frozen to the field when workers tried to remove it three hours before kickoff.
PANTHERS 37, LIONS 23
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — D’Onta Foreman ran for a career-high 165 yards and a touchdown, Canadian Chuba Hubbard added 125 yards rushing and the Carolina Panthers racked up a franchise record 320 yards on the ground to beat the Detroit Lions 37-23 on Saturday and keep their NFC South title hopes alive.
Sam Darnold completed 15 of 22 passes for 250 yards and a touchdown and ran for a score to improve to 3-1 as Carolina’s starting QB. Raheem Blackshear and D.J. Moore also scored for the Panthers, who amassed a team-record 570 yards of offense in the coldest game ever played at Bank of America Stadium.
The Panthers had seven runs of longer than 20 yards against a Lions defense that had allowed just 84 yards rushing per game over the last five weeks. Foreman and Hubbard both exceeded 100 yards rushing in the first half as the Panthers built a 24-7 lead.
Carolina (6-9) can clinch its first division title since 2015 with wins at Tampa Bay and New Orleans.
Jared Goff threw three touchdown passes to third-string tight end Shane Zylstra for the Lions. Detroit (7-8) had won six of its previous seven games to pull within a half-game of Washington in the race for the NFC’s final wild card spot entering the weekend.
SAINTS 17, BROWNS 10
CLEVELAND (AP) — Alvin Kamara and Taysom Hill each had touchdown runs and the New Orleans Saints went outside and handled Cleveland’s arctic-like cold in a 17-10 win Saturday over the Browns, who were officially eliminated from the playoffs.
The Saints (6-9) were 0-6 in outdoor games this season before rallying to beat the Browns (6-9) in the coldest game in New Orleans history.
Quarterback Deshaun Watson drove Cleveland to the Saints’ 15 in the final minute, but he was sacked on fourth down with 19 seconds left by Carl Granderson, ending the Browns’ postseason hopes.
Kamara scored on a 4-yard run late in the third quarter — set up by Daniel Sorensen’s interception of Watson and 36-yard return — as the Saints, still kicking in the NFC playoff hunt, overcame a 10-0 deficit.
New Orleans came in trailing Tampa Bay by one game in the weak, wide-open NFC South.
Cleveland is guaranteed a losing season in coach Kevin Stefanski’s third year, having played most of this one without Watson.
RAVENS 17, FALCONS 9
BALTIMORE (AP) — Tyler Huntley threw a first-half touchdown pass, and the Baltimore defense kept the Atlanta Falcons out of the end zone in a 17-9 victory Saturday that ended up assuring a playoff spot for the Ravens.
About a half-hour after Baltimore (10-5) took care of the Falcons, New England lost to Cincinnati to put the Ravens in the playoffs. The Ravens won for the second time in three games without quarterback Lamar Jackson, who has been out with a knee injury.
Gus Edwards ran for 99 yards and J.K. Dobbins rushed for 59 for Baltimore. Huntley’s 6-yard touchdown pass to Demarcus Robinson in the second quarter was the first TD catch by a Ravens wide receiver since Week 3.
Huntley ran for a 2-point conversion that put the Ravens up 14-0 _ and Baltimore’s defense has allowed more than 14 points in a game just once since the start of November.
Atlanta (5-10), which entered just a game behind first-place Tampa Bay in the NFC South, has lost four straight — including rookie QB Desmond Ridder’s first two starts — and six of seven.
TEXANS 19, TITANS 14
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Davis Mills threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to Brandin Cooks with 2:52 left, and the Houston Texans snapped a nine-game skid by beating the sliding Tennessee Titans 19-14 Saturday in a game delayed because of power issues.
Kickoff was delayed by an hour in a joint agreement by the Titans, the NFL and local emergency management officials after rolling power blackouts. Tennessee had crews working at Nissan Stadium since this extreme cold front moved into the area Thursday, blowing open some windows and bursting at least 36 water pipes at the stadium.
Even with the delay, it was the coldest home game in Titans history with a temperature of 20 at kickoff and the wind chill at 6.
The Texans (2-12-1) weren’t bothered much by the coldest game they’ve played this season. Ogbonnia Okoronkwo had two of the Texans’ four sacks by halftime, and Houston also forced three turnovers.
Linebacker Christian Harris intercepted rookie Malik Willis at the Houston 41 with 1:33 left, and Texans safety Jalen Pitre picked off Willis’ final pass in the end zone to seal the victory.
