Kuwait Times

Chicago Bears beat Los Angeles Rams, shake up playoff picture

Dolphins shock Patriots, Chiefs and Saints win

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CHICAGO: In a marquee matchup of flashy offense against tough defense, it was all defense. The Chicago Bears held the Los Angeles Rams to 214 total yards and kept them out of the end zone Sunday night, logging a 15-6 win at Soldier Field that might play a major role in shaping the NFC playoffs when they start next month. Chicago (9-4) moved another step closer to the NFC North title. If Minnesota (6-5-1) loses on Monday night in Seattle, the Bears can wrap up the division crown next week at home against Green Bay. Los Angeles (112), meanwhile, sealed the NFC West last week but fell out of the No. 1 seed in the conference on Sunday. New Orleans (11-2) won earlier Sunday in Tampa Bay, and owns the top seed by virtue of a 45-35 win over the Rams on Nov. 4 in the Superdome.

DOLPHINS 34, PATRIOTS 33

Kenyan Drake scored to complete a two-lateral miracle final play as host Miami scored from 69 yards out and stunned New England. With seven seconds left on the clock, Dolphins quarterbac­k Ryan Tannehill completed a 14-yard pass to Kenny Stills, who lateraled to DeVante Parker, who then found Drake. Drake ran the final 51 yards, scooting past stumbling tight end Rob Gronkowski, whom the Patriots had inserted into the game to stop a “Hail Mary” pass. Tannehill finished 14of-19 passing for 265 yards, three touchdowns and no intercepti­ons. He battled a sore ankle after he got stepped on in the second quarter, but returned and kept the Dolphins (7-6) in playoff contention with the win. New England (9-4) had a chance to clinch its division for the 10th straight year but instead lost for the fifth time in its last six trips to Miami.

CHIEFS 27, RAVENS 24 (OT)

Quarterbac­k Patrick Mahomes converted two fourth downs on a game-tying drive in regulation and kicker Harrison Butker atoned for a missed field goal with a 35-yarder in overtime as host Kansas City edged Baltimore. Mahomes finished with 377 yards passing, going 35 of 53 with two touchdowns and an intercepti­on against the NFL’s top-ranked defense. With the win, the Chiefs (11-2) clinched a berth in the playoffs while retaining the best record in the AFC. Starting quarterbac­k Lamar Jackson was injured in overtime after getting sacked by Kansas City linebacker­s Justin Houston and Dee Ford. Faced with two snaps and 22 yards to gain from the Baltimore 41-yard line, backup quarterbac­k Robert Griffin III could not engineer a first down,

throwing two incompleti­ons as the Ravens fell to 7-6.

SAINTS 28, BUCCANEERS 14

Special teams ace Taysom Hill flipped the momentum with a blocked punt and Drew Brees converted secondhalf touchdowns with a short pass and a fourth-down leap to lift New Orleans to a comeback victory over host Tampa Bay and claim the Saints’ second consecutiv­e NFC South title. The Saints (11-2), who won backto-back division titles for the first time in franchise history, looked sluggish, falling behind 14-3 at halftime, but they scored 25 unanswered points with three secondhalf touchdown drives and a 36-yard field goal by Will Lutz to put the game away. The Bucs (5-8) dominated the Saints in the first half, taking a 14-3 lead, and it could have been even more lopsided because kicker Cairo Santos missed a 46-yard field goal after Tampa Bay had driven to a first-and-10 at the New Orleans 22.

CHARGERS 26, BENGALS 21

Darius Philon’s sack on a two-point conversion attempt with less than two minutes remaining sealed Los Angles’ victory over visiting Cincinnati and helped to solidify the Chargers’ playoff chances. The Chargers (10-3), the top wild-card team in the AFC, remain behind the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC West standings. The Chargers and Chiefs are set for a showdown at Kansas City on Thursday night. Bengals quarterbac­k Jeff Driskel was 18 of 27 for 170 yards and a touchdown in his second career start as Cincinnati (5-8) lost its fifth consecutiv­e game and dropped to 5-8 after opening the season with a 4-1 record.

COWBOYS 29, EAGLES 23 (OT)

Quarterbac­k Dak Prescott threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Amari Cooper with 1:55 remaining in overtime to lift Dallas past visiting Philadelph­ia. The pass was deflected by Rasul Douglas and into Cooper’s hands before he raced in for the winning score and the fifth straight win for the Cowboys, who never let the Eagles touch the ball in overtime. Prescott was 42 of 54 for a career-high 455 yards, two intercepti­ons and three touchdowns, all to Cooper, who caught 10 passes for 217 yards. The Cowboys improved to 8-5, two games ahead of the Eagles (6-7) and Washington Redskins (67) in the NFC East with three games to play.

PACKERS 34, FALCONS 20

Aaron Rodgers broke Tom Brady’s NFL record for most consecutiv­e passes without an intercepti­on in style, setting the mark on a 24-yard touchdown pass to Randall Cobb that helped Green Bay beat visiting Atlanta. The pass was Rodgers’ 359th in a row without an intercepti­on dating to Week 4 of this season, a twice-deflected pass against Buffalo. Brady went 358 passes without an intercepti­on during the 2010 and 2011 seasons. Rodgers’ record-setting play, in the midst of an otherwise subpar season by his historic standards, came in the third quarter to give Green Bay a 27-7 lead. The outcome made a winner of interim coach Joe Philbin, who replaced Mike McCarthy after the Packers (5-7-1) fired the 13th-year head coach shortly after last week’s loss to the Arizona Cardinals. The Falcons (4-9) lost their fifth in a row.

RAIDERS 24, STEELERS 21

Derek Carr hit Derek Carrier for a 6-yard touchdown pass on fourth-and-goal with 21 seconds remaining to give host Oakland an upset of Pittsburgh. In a seesaw game, Carr was 5 of 7 for 74 yards on the winning drive. For the game, he threw for 322 yards and also had a scoring pass to Lee Smith. Doug Martin ran for a touchdown for the Raiders (3-10). Chris Boswell slipped and shanked a 40-yard field-goal attempt as time expired, leaving Pittsburgh (7-5-1) with a threegame losing streak. Ben Roethlisbe­rger missed most of the second half, apparently injured on a second-quarter sack, but returned to lead the Steelers to a go-ahead score with 2:55 remaining. — Reuters

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Matches on TV

(Local Timings)

Galatasara­y Spor Kul¸b¸ v FC Porto beIN SPORTS

Schalke 04 v Lokomotiv Moscow beIN SPORTS

Club Brugge KV v Atletico de Madrid beIN SPORTS HD 5

AS Monaco FC v BV Borussia Dortmund beIN SPORTS HD 6

FC Barcelona v Tottenham Hotspur beIN SPORTS HD 3 Internazio­nale Milano v PSV Eindhoven beIN SPORTS HD 4

Liverpool v SSC Napoli beIN SPORTS HD 1

Crvena Zvezda v Paris Saint-Germain beIN SPORTS HD

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20:55

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23:00

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23:00

 ??  ?? CHICAGO: Mitchell Trubisky #10 of the Chicago Bears avoids a sack by Dante Fowler #56 of the Los Angeles Rams at Soldier Field on Sunday in Chicago, Illinois. —AFP
CHICAGO: Mitchell Trubisky #10 of the Chicago Bears avoids a sack by Dante Fowler #56 of the Los Angeles Rams at Soldier Field on Sunday in Chicago, Illinois. —AFP

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