The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Lions win on final play, end winless string
Jared Goff dropped back, looked left and let the football loose that Amon-Ra St. Brown squeezed tight as he sat in the end zone.
That set off a roar in Ford Field loud enough it might've been heard on Motor City streets.
Detroit finally found a way when Goff threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to St. Brown as time expired, lifting the previously winless Lions to a 29-27 victory over the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.
"It feels good to stand in front of you now," Goff said to reporters before answering a question.
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 touch-down pass to Justin Jefferson with 1:50 left. The Vikings failed on a 2-point conversion for the third time, and 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 without pressure against a three-man rush to a rookie receiver, who took advantage of the Vikings secondary playing too deep in the end zone.
"It was actually crazy," St. Brown said. "They were 3 or 4 yards in the end zone."
The Lions (I-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.
"You want this so bad for the players because they're the ones who put in all the hard work, the sweat, the tears," Campbell said. "When you lose, it hurts, but it's also why winning is so great, because it isn't easy to do."
Cardinals 33, Bears 22: Kyler Murray threw for two touchdowns and ran for two more in his return from an ankle injury.
The Cardinals 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. The NFC West leaders, who have the NFL's best record, intercepted Andy Dalton four times.
Murray completed 11 of 15 passes for 123 yards, giving him 10.092 in three seasons.
Buccaneers 30, Falcons 17: Tom Brady threw for 368 yards and four touchdowns — two of them to longtime favorite target Rob Gronkowski — and the Buccaneers moved to the brink of clinching the NFC South title.
The Bucs won their third straight and pushed their division lead to four games over Atlanta, Carolina and New Orleans with five remaining.
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.
Chargers 41, Bengals 22: Justin Herbert passed for three touchdowns and Tevaughn Campbell returned a Joe Mixon fumble 61 yards for a score.
Herbert was 26 of 35 for 317 yards as Los Angeles 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 stormed back after falling behind 24-0 in the second quarter. Mixon's 7-yard TD run made it 24-22 with 710 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.
Colts 31, Texans 0: Jonathan Taylor ran for 143 yards and two touchdowns and the Colts rolled.
The Texans turned over the ball twice in the first quarter and quarter-back Tyrod Taylor was benched in the third quarter as Houston lost for the ninth time in10 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.
Washington 17, Las Vegas 15: Taylor Heinicke threw two touchdown passes and set up new kicker Brian Johnson's game-winning 48-yard field goal with 37 seconds remaining to lead Washington to its fourth straight win.
Heinicke threw a 7-yard TD pass to Logan Thomas on the opening drive and a 4-yarder to Antonio Gibson early in the fourth quarter after extending the drive with a key third-down scramble.
But Washington then allowed the Raiders to score on successive drives to take a 15-14 lead on Daniel Carlson's 37-yard field goal that was set up by Nate Hobbs' interception of Heinicke.
But Heinicke responded and drove Washington down the field to set up the kick by Johnson.
Rams 37, Jaguars 7: Cooper Kupp. Van Jefferson and Odell Beckham Jr. caught TD passes from Matthew Stafford, and the Rams snapped their three-game losing streak.
Stafford passed for 295 yards while Sony Michel rushed for 121 yards and a score for the Rams. who rebounded from a winless November with a solid all-around effort against a struggling opponent. Kupp had his 100th recep-tion of a remarkable season among his eight catches for 129 yards.
Stafford also snapped back into form, playing turnover-free football after giving the ball away six times during the three-game skid that threat-ened to derail the Rams' playoff plans. Los Angeles still has never lost four straight in coach Sean McVay's half-decade in charge.