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 and Pittsburgh Steelers, as after the Tennesse Titans upset the Jacksonville Jaguars, both teams clinched a playoff spot in the AFC.
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:
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.
