Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

SUNDAY’S ROUNDUPS, SUMMARIES

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STEELERS 20, COLTS 17

INDIANAPOL­IS — Ben Roethlisbe­rger’s 32-yard completion to Antonio Brown with 35 seconds set up a 33-yard field goal from Chris Boswell as time expired.

The Steelers (7-2) have won four consecutiv­e overall and five in a row in the series.

But it sure wasn’t easy as the Colts (3-7) held Roethlisbe­rger, Brown and Le’Veon Bell in check. Pittsburgh needed two second-half TD passes from Roethlisbe­rger to fight its way out of a 17-3 third-quarter deficit. And Roethlisbe­rger reverted to his traditiona­l form on the Steelers’ final possession.

The two-time Super Bowl champion methodical­ly marched the Steelers 70 yards in the final 3 minutes, 10 seconds to give Pittsburgh its only lead.

Roethlisbe­rger was 19 of 31 for 236 yards with 1 intercepti­on. Bell had 26 carries for 80 yards and Brown, the league’s leading receiver, caught three passes for 47 yards.

LIONS 38, BROWNS 24

ALLEN PARK, Mich. — Matthew Stafford lofted a 29-yard, tiebreakin­g touchdown to Eric Ebron early in the fourth quarter and the Lions went on to beat the winless Browns.

The Lions (5-4) rallied from first- and second-half deficits to earn consecutiv­e victories for the first time since winning the first two games this season. The Browns, who fell to 0-9 on the season, led 10-0 early in the game for their first double-digit lead of the season, and were up 24-17 in the third after Deshone Kizer led two consecutiv­e touchdown drives.

Detroit is the only franchise to have a 0-16 season in 2008.

Cleveland’s chances to finally win this season were hurt when Kizer took a shot to the ribs by blitzing defensive back Quandre Diggs late in the third period.

The rookie quarterbac­k, who came back to play late in the fourth, had perhaps his best game. He completed 21 of 37 passes for 232 yards with a 19yard touchdown pass to Kenny Britt in the first quarter. Kizer ran 7 times for 57 yards, including a go-ahead, 1-yard sneak with 6:01 left in the third.

VIKINGS 38, REDSKINS 30

LANDOVER, Md. — Case Keenum threw touchdowns to four different receivers to build a big lead, and the NFC North-leading Vikings won their fifth in a row.

With Teddy Bridgewate­r active for the first time since January 2016 after a devastatin­g knee injury, Keenum was 21 of 29 for 304 yards and TD passes to Stefon Diggs, Adam Thielen, David Morgan and Jarius Wright (Warren, Arkansas Razorbacks). He was picked off on consecutiv­e throws by D.J. Swearinger. Thielen had eight catches for a season-high 166 yards.

Latavius Murray also ran for a score as five players got into the end zone for Minnesota (72), which was 8 of 12 on third downs. The Vikings won their first game out of the bye week for the second time in eight seasons as they try to avoid a repeat of the swoon that cost them a playoff spot last season.

Washington quarterbac­k Kirk Cousins had 3 TDs — 2 rushing and 1 passing — and was 26 of 45 for 327 yards with 1 intercepti­on. The Redskins (4-5) failed to build off an upset victory at Seattle and now find themselves on an uphill climb in the wild-card race.

BUCCANEERS 15, JETS 10

TAMPA, Fla. — Ryan Fitzpatric­k led two long scoring drives and Tampa Bay limited the Jets to less than 200 yards of offense until late in the fourth quarter to snap a five-game losing streak.

With Fitzpatric­k filling in for injured quarterbac­k Jameis Winston, the Buccaneers (3-6) used three field goals to build a 9-3 lead. Charles Sims put the game out of reach with a 6-yard touchdown reception with just over six minutes remaining.

Fitzpatric­k, facing the team he played for the past two seasons, completed 17 of 34 passes for 187 yards and was intercepte­d once.

Fitzpatric­k, 34, one of just 4 players in NFL history to throw TD passes for 7 different teams, led a 7-minute drive that produced a field goal in the first quarter. He finished a 15-play, 81-yard march, also lasting more than 7 minutes, with his TD pass to Sims to make it 15-3.

PACKERS 23, BEARS 16

CHICAGO — Brett Hundley threw for 212 yards and 1 touchdown, Nick Perry had 3 sacks and the Packers snapped a 3-game losing streak.

Hundley, starting his third game for an injured Aaron Rodgers, threw a 17-yard touchdown to Davante Adams to make it 23-13 with 5:29 to play, and the Packers (5-4) hung on to beat the Bears (3-6) for the eighth time in 9 games.

It was the first victory for a Packers QB not named Rodgers or Brett Favre since 1989.

Chicago’s Mitchell Trubisky threw for a career-high 297 yards. The rookie hit Josh Bellamy for a 46-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter, but the Bears dropped their second in a row after winning back-to-back games.

The victory was Green Bay’s first since a narrow victory at Dallas on Oct. 8. A week later, Rodgers got driven to the turf by the Vikings’ Anthony Barr in a loss at Minnesota week and the Packers haven’t been the same since then.

Hundley completed 18 of 25 passes to help the Packers win their eighth consecutiv­e at Soldier Field counting the playoffs.

RAMS 33, TEXANS 7

LOS ANGELES — Robert Woods caught two of Jared Goff’s three touchdown passes during a dominant third quarter, and the surging Los Angeles Rams returned after a month away from home for their fourth consecutiv­e victory.

After struggling to a 9-7 lead during a quiet first half for the NFL’s highest-scoring team, the Rams (7-2) ran away with a series of big throws by Goff, who passed for a career-high 355 yards.

Woods caught a 94-yard TD pass to break it open before Sammy Watkins and Woods made TD catches 19 seconds apart late in the third quarter. The Rams defense shut out Houston in the second half and won at the Coliseum for just the third time in 11 games since returning to Los Angeles last season.

Woods finished with 8 catches for 171 yards, making the longest catch of his NFL career before following it up with a 12-yard TD .

Bruce Ellington caught a 26yard TD pass for the Texans (3-6), who have lost 3 consecutiv­e and 4 of 5.

TITANS 24, BENGALS 20

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Marcus Mariota tossed a 7-yard touchdown pass to DeMarco Murray with 36 seconds left, and the Titans rallied for their fourth consecutiv­e victory.

It’s the longest winning streak for the Titans (6-3) since taking five consecutiv­e in 2009, and it’s their best start to a season since 2008 when the Titans last reached the playoffs as the AFC’s No. 1 seed.

Murray ran for two touchdowns, and Mariota finished with 264 yards passing.

The Bengals (3-6) lost for the third time in four games despite sacking Mariota four times. They started with three defensive starters scratched and lost a fourth when linebacker Vontaze Burfict was ejected in the second quarter after pushing the arm of an official.

Cincinnati took its only lead at 20-17 on a 70-yard TD pass from Andy Dalton to A.J. Green with 5:03 left, but the Bengals couldn’t stop the Titans, who drove 73 yards for the winning TD.

49ERS 31, GIANTS 21

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — C.J. Beathard threw for 288 yards and two touchdowns and ran for a third score to lead the San Francisco 49ers to their first victory of the season.

Beathard connected on an 83yard TD to Marquise Goodwin and a 47-yarder to Garrett Celek in the second quarter as the 49ers (1-9) took advantage of another listless effort by the New York Giants (18) to win for the first time under Coach Kyle Shanahan.

Beathard’s time as starting quarterbac­k in San Francisco figures to be numbered after the team acquired Jimmy Garoppolo two weeks ago in trade from New England. Garoppolo has been learning the offense and could take over when the team returns from the bye in two weeks.

While the Niners could be making a quarterbac­k change soon, this performanc­e will only heighten the questions about whether the Giants will need to change coaches. Ben McAdoo has been under fire after a report this past week from ESPN that quoted an anonymous player as saying the players have given up on the season and don’t view McAdoo as a leader.

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