Record number of games decided late

From Lamar Jackson’s improbable comeback that ended in an overtime win for Baltimore to the missed kick festival between Green Bay and Cincinnati, the NFL had several more games go down to the wire in Week 5.

Four more games were decided with a winning score in either the final minute of regulation or overtime. That raised the total this season to 19 games decided that late, the most through five weeks in NFL history.

There have been 21 games decided by three points or fewer this season, tied for the third most ever through five weeks.

For the third week this season, two games went into overtime, with it also happening in Weeks 1 and 4. The Ravens, Raiders, Titans and Bengals have all played two OT games so far, with only the Raiders coming out on top both times.

Perhaps no team has been hurt more by end of game theatrics than the Lions, who lost 2119 to Minnesota on Sunday when Greg Joseph hit a 54-yard field goal with no time left. That came two weeks after Baltimore’s Justin Tucker hit a record 66-yarder on the final play of another Detroit loss, 19-17.

The Lions are the first team in NFL history to lose two games in the same season on game-winning field goals of at least 50 yards with no time left on the clock.

JUST FOR KICKS

The rest of the league seemed to struggle in the kicking game this past week, with kickers combining to miss a record 13 extra points and 14 field goals.

The problem was most stark in Cincinnati, where Green Bay’s Mason Crosby and the Bengals’ Evan Mcpherson combined to miss six kicks.

Crosby missed an extra point early and then field goals on three straight possessions late in the game, including two that would have ended the game, before winning it with a 49-yarder in overtime.