John Riordan
THE dream of a perfect season is over for the Green Bay Packers. And the nightmare of 16 games without a victory has been avoided by the Indianapolis Colts.
Meanwhile, 22 of the 32 NFL teams, including the seven already guaranteed a post-season berth, can still realistically look beyond New Year's Day when the regular season is destined to reach a gripping climax.
While the clash of Tim Tebow's Denver Broncos and Tom Brady's New England Patriots in Colorado was the source of huge pre-match hype (even inspiring a skit on Saturday Night Live), it ended up being an easy victory for the Pats who clinched a ninth AFC East title in 11 seasons with their 41-23.
Instead the drama lay elsewhere, and the biggest story of an incredible day was the Kansas City Chiefs' unlikely win on the occasion of interim coach Romeo Crennel's first game, a surprising 19-14 victory that ended the Packers' 19-game winning streak, their first defeat since this day last year in New England.
"I personally always viewed the undefeated season as, really, just gravy,” coach Mike McCarthy said afterwards. “The goal was to get home-field advantage and win the Super Bowl. That's what we discussed. We were fortunate enough to be in the position to possibly achieve the undefeated season but we still have the primary goal in front of us, and that's to get home-field advantage.”
Incredibly, that Chiefs win, coupled with defeats for their AFC West rivals, the Broncos and the Oakland Raiders and surprise win for the San Diego Chargers over the Baltimore Racens means that all four teams can finish 8-8. In that wild scenario, Kansas City would advance and the Tebow phenomenon will crash and burn.
Oakland were the victims of an amazing Detroit Lions fightback in the dying seconds, a 98-yard drive that forced a 28-27 victory which was inspired by quarterback Matthew Stafford and one of the most impressive games of wide receiver Calvin Johnson’s career.
The AFC wild card race could go down to the wire with the New York Jets and the Tennessee Titans both losing while the Cincinnati Bengals won to put them back in contention for the sixth seed.
That Titans loss brought to an end that other famous (or infamous) streak. The Colts had been 0-13 for the season but their convincing 27-13 victory ended up being the franchise's first win in 14 years without Peyton Manning.
With the Pittsburgh Steelers facing a tough clash tonight against the San Francisco 49ers, the Ravens missed an opportunity in the late game to keep their arch rivals on their toes, losing 34-14 at San Diego.
And the other AFC North team, the aforementioned Bengals beat the St Louis Rams 20-13 to keep alive the possibility that three teams from the same division advance to the post-season.
The other top seed in the AFC, the Houston Texans were surprisingly beaten by the Carolina Panthers who benefited from another Cam Newton-inspired performance, the 28-13 away victory denting Houston’s plans for home advantage in January.
In the NFC, the New Orleans kept the pressure on the Packers for seeding with a big 42-20 win in Minnesota. Drew Brees threw for 412 yards and five touchdowns to lead the surging Saints to their sixth win in a row.
The NFC East was blown wide open. LeSean McCoy ran for three touchdowns as the Philadelphia Eagles hammered the Jets 45-19 to stay in contention for the division, a prospect which seemed impossible going into December.
If the Eagles beat the Dallas Cowboys (who won 31-15 in Tampa Bay on Saturday night) on Christmas Eve and the Giants are beaten by the Jets the same day, the possibility that all three teams, Phillie, Dallas and the Giants, finish 8-8 in which case the Eagles will advance.
The Giants walked themselves into this nightmare scenario with a gutless 23-10 defeat at home to the Washington Redskins.
“I'm very disappointed in how we played today,” coach Tom Coughlin admitted afterwards. “I accept responsibility for it. But I expected to see more quality execution and we didn't get that.”
Although the Atlanta Falcons, who won 41-14 against Jacksonville on Thursday night, joined the Lions as favourites for the two wild card spots, there are four teams snapping at their heels.
The Seattle Seahawks won at the 38-14 at the Chicago Bears and the Arizona Cardinals beat the always unlucky Cleveland Browns in overtime (20-17) to leave those three, the Seahawks, the Bears and the Cardinals on 7-7
Meanwhile, in the one and only game that carried no play-off implications, the Miami Dolphins beat the Buffalo Bills 30-23 in snowy west New York.
Source: http://feeds.examiner.ie/~r/iesportsblog/~3/SmUJY3IZfjk/post.aspx
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