The Detroit Lions recorded their first win of the season on in the 13th NFL Sunday of the season, while Tom Brady and Kyler Murray delivered standout performances for their teams.
Here’s a look at the early games from Week 13.
Lions stun Vikings for first win, dedicate game ball to school shooting victims
The Lions finally found a victory when Jared Goff threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Amon-Ra St. Brown as time expired, lifting previously winless Detroit to a 29-27 win over the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.
Not only was the finish dramatic, it was stunning. Goff led the Lions on a 75-yard decisive possession without a timeout after Kirk Cousins threw a go-ahead 3-yard touchdown pass to Justin Jefferson with 1:50 left. The Vikings failed on a 2-point conversion for the third time; those missed opportunities proved costly.
Goff threw two touchdown passes in the first half to put Detroit ahead by 14 points, its biggest lead this season. Then he turned over the ball twice in the second half to help Minnesota rally.
He came through in the end, leading the long drive and delivering a sharp pass to the rookie receiver, who took advantage of the Vikings secondary playing too deep in the end zone.
The Lions (1-10-1) ended a 15-game winless streak that lasted 364 days since winning at Chicago last season, giving first-year coach Dan Campbell his first victory with the franchise.
The Vikings (5-7) hurt their chances of earning a wild-card spot in the playoffs by losing a game they were favored to win by a touchdown — and led until the very last tick of the clock.
Murray comes up big in return as Cardinals beat Bears
CHICAGO — Kyler Murray threw for two touchdowns and ran for two more in his return from an ankle injury as the Arizona Cardinals beat the Chicago Bears 33-22.
The Cardinals (10-2) got back Murray and three-time All-Pro receiver DeAndre Hopkins after both players missed three games because of injuries, then rolled to an easy victory over Chicago (4-8). The NFC West leaders, who have the NFL’s best record, intercepted Andy Dalton four times.
The Cardinals, who were coming off a bye, improved to 7-0 on the road, with each win by 10 points or more.
Jalen Thompson and Budda Baker picked off passes that deflected off the intended target on Chicago’s first two possessions. The Cardinals took advantage.
Murray completed 11 of 15 passes for 123 yards, giving him 10,092 in three seasons, on a cool and soggy afternoon. At 24 years, 120 days, he became the fourth-youngest player with 10,000 career yards passing, according to NFL research. Drew Bledsoe (23 years, 299 days), Jameis Winston (23 years, 303 days) and Dan Marino (24 years, 63 days) are the only younger players to reach it. Murray also joined Cam Newton as the only players in NFL history with at least 10,000 yards passing and 1,500 rushing in his first three seasons.
Brady, Gronkowski hook up for two TDs as Buccaneers knock off Falcons
ATLANTA — Tom Brady threw for 368 yards and four touchdowns — two of them to longtime favorite target Rob Gronkowski — and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers moved to the brink of clinching the NFC South title with a 30-17 win over the Atlanta Falcons.
The Bucs (9-3) won their third straight game and pushed their division lead to four games over Atlanta, Carolina and New Orleans (all 5-7) with five games remaining.
Brady improved to 10-0 in his career against the Falcons, including four straight wins over the last two seasons since moving from New England to Tampa Bay.
The 44-year-old Brady completed 38 of 51 throws, including touchdowns of 27 and 11 yards to Gronkowski _ their first scoring passes since Week 2 against the Falcons. The prolific duo has combined for 90 regular-season TDs, passing Phillip Rivers and Antonio Gates for No. 2 in NFL history. Only Peyton Manning and Marvin Harrison have more, hooking up for 112.
Brady shook off a huge blunder in the final minute of the first half, when 278-pound defensive lineman Marlon Davidson picked off a short pass and glided 3 yards into the end zone for a touchdown that cut Tampa Bay’s lead to 20-17 at the break.
Toronto native scores big TD on fumble as Chargers top Bengals
CINCINNATI — Justin Herbert passed for three touchdowns and Toronto’s Tevaughn Campbell returned a Joe Mixon fumble 61 yards for a score as the Los Angeles Chargers beat the Cincinnati Bengals 41-22.
Herbert was 26 of 35 for 317 yards as Los Angeles (7-5) bounced back nicely after losing 28-13 at Denver last weekend. Mike Williams had five receptions for 110 yards, and Keenan Allen caught two of Herbert’s TD passes.
Cincinnati (7-5) stormed back after falling behind 24-0 in the second quarter. Mixon’s 7-yard TD run made it 24-22 with 7:10 left in the third. But Mixon was stuffed on the 2-point conversion try and Campbell’s fumble return in the fourth helped close it out for Los Angeles.
The Bengals committed four of the game’s seven turnovers. Battling a hand injury for much of the day, Joe Burrow threw two interceptions and lost a fumble.
Minshew leads Eagles to win over Jets
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Gardner Minshew started in place of an injured Jalen Hurts and led the clock-eating Philadelphia Eagles to scores on their first seven possessions in a 33-18 win over the New York Jets.
Minshew was 20 of 25 for 242 yards and two touchdowns to Dallas Goedert. Kenneth Gainwell ran for a score, Jake Elliott kicked four field goals and the Eagles (6-7) improved to 12-0 all-time against the Jets (3-9).
With Hurts out with an ankle injury, Philadelphia bounced back from a 13-7 loss to the Giants last weekend at MetLife Stadium to slice through the Jets’ defense drive after drive. The only possession on which the Eagles didn’t score was their last.
But the win might have come at a cost as running back Miles Sanders left in the fourth quarter with an ankle injury after running for 120 yards on 24 carries. Center Jason Kelce also limped off the field at the two-minute warning.
It appeared the Jets and Eagles would be in for a slugfest as they both scored touchdowns on their first three possessions. It was the first game since the Elias Sports Bureau began tracking in 1978 that each team scored TDs on their first three drives.
Things slowed considerably after halftime as the Jets held the ball for only 70 seconds in the third quarter _ just three plays for 3 yards. Meanwhile, the Eagles had 24 plays for 81 yards over 13:50 in the period. Philadelphia held the overall edge in time of possession: 35:36 to 24:24.
Dolphins extend win streak to five games
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla — Tua Tagovailoa threw a pair of short touchdown passes, and the Miami Dolphins extended their winning streak to five games with a 20-9 victory over the New York Giants.
Isaiah Ford and Mack Hollins had the scoring grabs for Miami (6-7), which has shaken off a 1-7 start. Jaylen Waddle had nine catches for 90 yards for the Dolphins, and rookie Jaelan Phillips had two more sacks _ giving him five in his past two games.
Tagovailoa completed 30 of 41 passes for 244 yards and the two scores.
Mike Glennon started at quarterback for the Giants (4-8) in place of Daniel Jones, who was sidelined with a neck injury. Glennon completed 23 of 44 throws for 187 yards, and Saquon Barkley had 55 rushing yards on 11 carries.
Glennon finished the game, and the team said he was diagnosed postgame with a concussion.
New York never found the end zone against a defense that has yielded only 55 points during the five-game winning streak. Graham Gano had three field goals for the Giants.
Taylor runs wild as Colts shut out Texans
HOUSTON — Jonathan Taylor ran for 143 yards and two touchdowns and the Indianapolis Colts rolled to a 31-0 win over the Houston Texans.
The Texans turned over the ball twice in the first quarter and quarterback Tyrod Taylor was benched in the third quarter as Houston (2-10) lost for the ninth time in 10 games.
Indianapolis’ Taylor, who leads the NFL in yards rushing, has 16 rushing touchdowns this season, which ties the franchise record set by Lenny Moore in 1964. It’s the 10th straight game when he’s ran for a touchdown, the longest streak in the NFL since LaDainian Tomlinson did it in 18 straight in the 2004 and 2005 seasons.
Carson Wentz threw for 158 yards and a touchdown for the Colts (7-6) before being replaced by Sam Ehlinger with five minutes left in the fourth quarter and the game long decided.
Things went wrong for Houston immediately with Tyrod Taylor throwing an interception on the team’s first play. It was initially ruled an incompletion, but the Colts challenged the call and the review showed that Kenny Moore grabbed it just before falling out of bounds.
