Eagles back in

Thanks to a victory and a Minnesota loss, the defending Super Bowl champions advanced to the playoffs.

BALTIMORE (AP) — The Baltimore Ravens squeezed past the Browns and into the playoffs, using two rushing touchdowns by rookie quarterback Lamar Jackson and a late defensive stand to beat Cleveland 26-24 Sunday and claim the AFC North title.

Kenneth Dixon accounted for 117 of Baltimore’s season-high 296 yards on the ground, Jackson had 90 and the rejuvenated Ravens (106) ended a three-year playoff drought with their sixth win in seven games. Fourthseed Baltimore will open the postseason next weekend at home against the Los Angeles Chargers.

A year ago, Baltimore missed the playoffs by losing its finale at home to the Bengals, who rallied with a last-minute touchdown.

STEELERS 16, BENGALS 13 PITTSBURGH (AP) — Ben Roethlisberger passed for 287 yards and a touchdown, newly acquired kicker Matt McCrane booted three field goals and the Steelers still fell short of the postseason.

The Steelers (9-6-1) saw their chance at capturing the AFC North end when Baltimore held off Cleveland.

A significant portion of the team remained on the field after the game ended watching Cleveland’s lastditch drive while the crowd that stuck around chanted “Let’s Go Browns.” A mas- sive groan arose when Cleveland rookie quarterback Baker Mayfield was intercepted in Baltimore territory in the waning seconds.

Pittsburgh still has a remote shot to reach the postseason for the fifth consecutive year, but needs Indianapolis and Tennessee to tie on Sunday night. EAGLES 24, REDSKINS 0 LANDOVER, Md. (AP) — Nick Foles did it again, leading the Eagles to the NFC’s final wild-card berth when Chicago beat the Vikings.

The Eagles (9-7) will play at the Bears (12-4) next weekend.

Foles tied Philip Rivers’ NFL record by completing 25 straight passes and threw two touchdown passes before a chest injury forced him out of the game. Nate Sudfeld fired a 22-yard TD on his only pass.

It felt like a home game for the Eagles. Philadelphia fans filled FedEx Field, sang “Fly! Eagles! Fly!” and chanted “Let’s Go Bears!” There were several thousand empty seats and Redskins fans could only cheer for the Vikings to spite Eagles fans.

Foles, the Super Bowl MVP in Philadelphia’s win over New England last February, is 6-0 in must-win games filling in for Carson Wentz.

BEARS 24, VIKINGS 10 MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The NFC North champion Bears refused to let up, riding Jordan Howard for 109 rushing yards and two touchdowns and a relentless defense.

With the 24-0 win by Philadelphia at Washington, the Vikings (8-7-1) watched the Eagles claim the last wild-card spot and went home wondering what happened to their offense after signing Kirk Cousins for $84 million guaranteed to be the franchise quarterback.

Tarik Cohen scored the last touchdown on a short run with 7:46 left to cap a 16-play drive for the Bears (12-4), who posted their best regular-season record since the 2006 team finished 13-3 and reached the Super Bowl. They’ve won nine of their last 10 games.

The Bears began the afternoon with an opportunity, albeit unlikely, to get a firstround bye with a victory and a loss by the Los Angeles Rams. Rookie head coach Matt Nagy was unmoved by the big early lead taken by the Rams, though, keeping quarterback Mitch Trubisky in the entire game and only holding out the starters who were already previously injured. TEXANS 20, JAGUARS 3 HOUSTON (AP) — The Texans clinched the AFC South title as Deshaun Watson threw for 234 yards and ran for a touchdown, and DeAndre Hopkins had 147 yards receiving.

The Texans (11-5) won nine in a row after starting 0-3 to save their season and will make their fifth playoff appearance after winning the division for the fifth time in franchise history. Houston returns to the postseason for the third time in four years after bouncing back from last year’s 4-12 record in a season where Watson and J.J. Watt sustained season-ending injuries.

Houston built a 14-point lead in the first half behind rushing touchdowns by Watson and Lamar Miller and made it 20-3 on a 24-yard field goal with about 11 minutes left. The Jaguars had a chance to cut the lead later in the fourth period, but Blake Bortles was intercepted in the end zone by Andre Hal.

Jaguars owner Shad Khan issued a statement urging his director of football operations, Tom Coughlin, the keep the status quo with coach Doug Marrone and general manager Dave Caldwell — even though the team flopped from a spot in the AFC title game to last place. CHIEFS 35, RAIDERS 3 KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Chiefs finally clinched their third consecutive AFC West title and the No. 1 seed in the playoffs, and Patrick Mahomes and the rest of Kansas City’s offense continued to shatter records.

Mahomes threw for 281 yards, highlighted by a 67yard TD pass to Tyreek Hill and an 89-yard TD toss to Demarcus Robinson. That gave the first-year starter 5,097 yards and 50 touchdown passes, joining Peyton Manning as the only QBs to hit 5,000 and 50 in the same season.

Manning had 5,477 yards and a record 55 TD passes for the Broncos in 2013. COWBOYS 36,

GIANTS 35

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Dak Prescott threw a 32-yard fourth-down touchdown pass to Cole Beasley on a play that was reversed by video replay and added a winning 2-point conversion pass to Michael Gallup with 1:12 to play.

In what might have been quarterback Eli Manning’s final start for the Giants, Prescott passed for 387 yards and the season-high four touchdowns, the first three to tight end Blake Jarwin. The Cowboys (10-6) won for the seventh time in eight games.

The game was meaningless for the NFC East champion Cowboys, who will host a wild-card game next weekend. Coach Jason Garrett rested NFL leading rusher Ezekiel Elliott and two of his top offensive linemen, but kept Prescott (27 of 44) on the field the whole game to build momentum for the postseason.

It worked, although the Giants (5-11) did their best despite losing their third straight game.

Saquon Barkley capped a record-setting rookie season with a sensational 2-yard touchdown dive with 3:21 to play to put the Giants ahead 35-28.

However, Prescott engineered a nine-play, 70-yard drive that he ended with an arching pass to Beasley in the back of the end zone. There was no doubt he caught the ball, and a review showed he got his knee down in bounds. CHARGERS 23,

BRONCOS 9 DENVER (AP) — Philip Rivers and the Los Angeles Chargers recovered from a slow start for their first win in Denver since 2013.

The Chargers (12-4) are headed to the playoffs for the first time in five years, but they’ll go in as a wild-card thanks to a last-second loss to the Broncos at home in November.

Were it not for that slipup, the Chargers and not the Kansas City Chiefs would have earned No. 1 seed in the AFC playoffs and the firstround bye that comes with it.

Rivers was just 14 of 34 for 176 yards and a touchdown and two interceptions. Both interceptions came in the first quarter, something that’s happened just twice before in Rivers’ 15-year NFL career.

Instead, the Chargers will hit the road on wild-card weekend.

The Broncos (6-10) careened into an offseason of uncertainty after posting double digit losses in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1966-67, an ignominy that could cost second-year coach Vance Joseph his job.