The final week of the NFL regular season brought lots of drama as it always does.
The biggest winners of Sunday were the Buffalo Bills, Pittsburgh Steelers and Green Bay Packers as all three teams clinched a playoff spot on the final day.
For a full look at all the remaining playoff scenarios, check out our NFL Playoff Tracker.
Here is a full roundup of Sunday’s action:
PACKERS 17, BEARS 9
GREEN BAY, Wis. — Jordan Love threw for 316 yards and connected with Dontayvion Wicks on a pair of touchdowns to send the Green Bay Packers to the playoffs with a 17-9 victory over the Chicago Bears on Sunday.
The Packers (9-8) needed a win to earn an NFC wild-card berth. Green Bay delivered by winning their third straight overall and beating the Bears (7-10) for a 10th consecutive time.
The Packers were in a similar situation for their regular-season finale last year, but lost 20-16 at the Detroit Lions in four-time MVP quarterback Aaron Rodgers’ last game with Green Bay. The Packers traded Rodgers to the New York Jets less than four months later.
Love now has the Packers reaching the postseason in his first year as a starter.
TITANS 28, JAGUARS 20
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Trevor Lawrence had every chance to play the Jacksonville Jaguars into the playoffs for a second straight year as the AFC South champs.
He wound up stopped short of the goal line with 7:13 left, and he also turned the ball over on downs with 1:47 left as the Tennessee Titans eliminated the Jaguars 28-20 Sunday in their regular-season finale.
The Jaguars (9-8) came in needing a win to clinch a second straight AFC South title for the first back-to-back crowns since 1998 and 1999. Their loss makes Houston the division champs, costing the Jaguars their only way into the postseason after Pittsburgh also won Saturday.
Jacksonville controlled its fate starting 8-3 and finished losing five of six. Lawrence, who returned after missing last week with a sprained shoulder, was intercepted twice. The Jaguars also turned the ball over on downs three times — twice in the final 7:10.
The Jaguars had one final chance, getting the ball back with 2:18 remaining and no timeouts left. Lawrence’s deep pass went off Calvin Ridley’s fingertips, then Lawrence threw incomplete on the next two downs with the last nowhere close to Engram.
Tennessee’s win makes the Texans the AFC South champs and the No. 4 seed, who will host No. 5 seed Cleveland in the wild-card round. Pittsburgh and Buffalo, who visits Miami in the final game of the regular season on Sunday night, both clinched playoff berths with Jacksonville eliminated.
BUCCANEERS 9, PANTHERS 0
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Chase McLaughlin kicked three field goals, the Tampa Bay defence pitched a shutout and the Buccaneers won their third straight NFC South title with a 9-0 victory on Sunday over the Carolina Panthers.
Tampa Bay (9-8) was facing an all-or-nothing scenario entering Sunday’s game with a win clinching a playoff spot and a loss resulting in elimination.
The Buccaneers weren’t exactly impressive on offence with Baker Mayfield held to 137 yards in his return to Carolina, but the defence — aided by some self-inflected wounds by Carolina — did just enough to keep the Panthers off the board.
The Panthers became the first NFL team since at least 1991 to fail to run a single play while leading in the fourth quarter of a game. Both of Carolina’s wins this season came on field goals at the end of regulation when it was trailing.
Bryce Young finished 11 of 18 for 94 yards and the Panthers had two potential touchdowns overturned.
BENGALS 31, BROWNS 14
CINCINNATI (AP) — Jake Browning threw three touchdown passes, Joe Mixon rushed for a season-high 111 yards and a score, and the Cincinnati Bengals got an easy 31-14 win Sunday over a Cleveland Browns team resting most of its starters for the playoffs.
Locked in as the No. 5 seed in the AFC, Cleveland (11-6) was content to play out the regular season with backups before its first playoff appearance since 2020 and just its second in the last 21 seasons.
Quarterback Joe Flacco, star defensive end Myles Garrett, receiver Amari Cooper and cornerback Denzel Ward were among the Browns’ starters who didn’t play.
The Bengals led 24-0 at halftime. Browns quarterback Jeff Driskel — signed Dec. 29 from Arizona’s practice squad — didn’t fare well against Cincinnati’s defensive regulars until the fourth quarter, when he threw two touchdown passes to David Bell.
The Bengals (9-8) had a difficult season. Franchise quarterback Joe Burrow wasn’t at full strength to start the season and suffered a season-ending wrist injury in the 10th game. Other key players missed chunks of time.
LIONS 30, VIKINGS 20
DETROIT (AP) — Sam LaPorta had a 2-yard touchdown catch midway through the first quarter but later limped off the field with a knee injury, an ominous development for the NFC North champion Detroit Lions as they closed out the regular season with a 30-20 win over the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.
Detroit (12-5) matched a franchise record for wins and will host a playoff game for the first time since the 1993 season when it played at the Pontiac Silverdome.
The Lions will spend the upcoming week hoping LaPorta, who set an NFL record for receptions by a rookie tight end with 86, is healthy enough to help them earn a second playoff victory since winning the 1957 league title.
Detroit coach Dan Campbell opted to play all his starters even though the best the Lions could hope for was to improve their playoff seeding from No. 3 to No. 2 in the NFC. They needed the Cowboys to lose at Washington later Sunday for that to happen.
JETS 17, PATRIOTS 3
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Breece Hall rushed for 174 yards and a late touchdown and the New York Jets snapped a 15-game losing streak against the Patriots with a 17-3 win Sunday in what could have been Bill Belichick’s final game as New England’s coach.
With snow covering the field and flurries swirling throughout Gillette Stadium, Greg Zuerlein kicked three field goals to help the Jets (7-10) earn their first victory over the Patriots since an overtime win on Dec. 27, 2015. It marks the Jets’ first win in New England since the 2010 AFC divisional playoff round.
The Patriots’ 4-13 record is the worst finish in Belichick’s 29-year NFL coaching career. Sunday’s loss also marked the 178th of Belichick’s career, including the playoffs, tying him with Tom Landry for the most ever. It also ties the record of 165 regular-season losses held by Jeff Fisher and Dan Reeves.
New England now shifts to its most uncertain offseason of the past two-plus decades, with Belichick’s future with the team in the spotlight after 24-year tenure during which the Patriots won six Super Bowl titles.
SAINTS 48, FALCONS 17
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Derek Carr passed for four touchdowns to lift the New Orleans Saints over the Atlanta Falcons 48-17 Sunday, but both teams missed out on a chance to win the division when Tampa Bay beat Carolina.
Either New Orleans (9-8) or Atlanta (7-10) would have won the NFC South by winning their regular-season finale if the Buccaneers lost. Baker Mayfield and Tampa Bay finished a 9-0 victory while the Saints and Falcons were still on the field.
New Orleans can still back-door into an NFC wild-card spot with losses by both Seattle and Green Bay later Sunday.
The Saints’ Jamaal Williams had a 1-yard TD run in the final two minutes after New Orleans lined up as if planning to take a knee and run out the clock. The play appeared to upset both the Falcons and Saints coach Dennis Allen.
Carr passed for 264 yards and rookie receiver A.T. Perry caught two scoring passes to double his season total for New Orleans.
In the Atlanta locker room, speculation swirled around the future of third-year coach Arthur Smith following his third-straight losing campaign.
RAMS 21, 49ERS 20
SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — Carson Wentz threw two touchdown passes and ran for a score to lead the Los Angeles Rams to a 21-20 victory over the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday in a game filled with backups.
Wentz scored on a 12-yard run with 4:56 to play and then converted a 2-point conversion pass to Tutu Atwell to give the Rams (10-7) a 21-20 lead.
Los Angeles held on from there and clinched the sixth seed in the NFC and a trip to Detroit in the wild-card round next weekend.
The game had little meaning with the 49ers (12-5) having clinched the top seed in the NFC and a first-round bye and the Rams clinching a playoff spot last week.
COWBOYS 38, COMMANDERS 10
LANDOVER, Md. — Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys did what they set out to do Sunday against the rival Commanders — unlike a year ago — by earning the NFC East title and the No. 2 seed in the conference with a 38-10 victory at Washington to close the regular season.
Prescott threw two of his four TDs passes to CeeDee Lamb and finished 31 for 36 for 279 yards as Dallas (12-5) assured itself of playing at home to open the postseason. That’s a big deal for a club that went 8-0 in Dallas this season and has won 16 games in a row there.
It’s a third consecutive 12-5 record and postseason trip for Dallas under coach Mike McCarthy.
Last-place Washington (4-13 overall, 0-6 in the NFC East) and expected-to-be-gone Ron Rivera are at the other end of the spectrum after tying a franchise mark for most losses in a season.
GIANTS 27, EAGLES 10
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Jalen Hurts, A.J. Brown and a host of injured, ineffective Eagles can only hope they bottomed out Sunday night — a 1-5 finish headed into the postseason that could spark an offseason of upheaval — in a 27-10 loss to the New York Giants.
The Eagles (11-6) earned the No. 5 seed and will open the NFC playoffs next week at Tampa Bay.
If recent weeks are any indication, it could be a short playoff run for the NFC champions. The Eagles entered the game with an outside shot at the No. 2 seed in the playoffs. They didn’t get the needed help in Washington, where the Dallas Cowboys won the game, the NFC East title and the second spot in the conference.
It didn’t matter anyway.
CHIEFS 13, CHARGERS 12
Mike Edwards returned a fumble 97 yards for a touchdown, Harrison Butker made a 41-yard field goal with 49 seconds remaining, and the AFC West champion Kansas City Chiefs beat the Los Angeles Chargers 13-12 on Sunday while resting most of their starters.
With the Chiefs (11-6) locked into the AFC’s No. 3 seed for the playoffs, Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce were inactive. Kelce finished with 984 receiving yards, ending the All-Pro tight end’s bid for an eighth straight 1,000-yard season.
Kansas City will host either Buffalo or Miami in next weekend’s wild-card round.
The Chargers (5-12) closed the season with five straight losses, the last three after coach Brandon Staley and general manager Tom Telesco were fired on Dec. 15.
SEAHAWKS 21, CARDINALS 20
GLENDALE, Ariz. — Geno Smith threw two touchdown passes and the Seattle Seahawks rallied for a 21-20 win over the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, but the Seahawks still missed the playoffs after the Green Bay Packers beat the Chicago Bears earlier in the afternoon.
Arizona’s Matt Prater missed a 51-yard field attempt, wide right, at the buzzer. It was his second missed field goal of the fourth quarter.
The Seahawks came into Week 18 of this regular season in a familiar position, needing a win in the finale and some help from another team to squeeze into the playoffs. It worked out last season after the Seahawks beat the Rams and the Lions beat the Packers.
This time around, it didn’t.
RAIDERS 27, BRONCOS 14
LAS VEGAS (AP) — The “AP!” chants began with 1:01 left, Raiders fans joining the players in making known their preference that Antonio Pierce goes from interim to full-time coach.
An even bigger statement was made on the field Sunday as Las Vegas continued its dominance over the Denver Broncos with a 27-14 victory behind Aidan O’Connell passing for 244 yards and two touchdowns, Zamir White rushing for 112 yards and a relentless pass rush.
This was the Raiders’ eighth consecutive victory over their AFC West rivals and 10th in 11 games. That includes a 4-0 record in Las Vegas.
After both teams ended their season at 8-9 and out of the playoffs, the focus in Las Vegas turns to whether owner Mark Davis elevates Pierce or hires someone outside the organization. The Raiders went 5-4 since Pierce replaced Josh McDaniels on Halloween night.
