Late escape for Chiefs and Cowboys win thriller

The Kansas City Chiefs had yet another late escape and the Dallas Cowboys ended their losing streak with a chaotic victory in week 12 of the NFL.

The defending champions were pushed all the way by the Carolina Panthers before pulling out yet another late win to get to 10-1 for the season – alongside the Detroit Lions, who were a lot more dominant when beating the Indianapolis Colts.

Complete chaos ensued in the final five minutes of the Cowboys’ frantic win at the Washington Commanders, while the Chicago Bears found another heartbreaking way to lose as the Minnesota Vikings triumphed in overtime.

The San Francisco 49ers suffered their worst defeat in six years at the Green Bay Packers, and the Philadelphia Eagles beat the Los Angeles Rams to make it seven wins on the bounce.

The Panthers put up far more of a fight than expected as they twice erased an 11-point deficit to draw level with Super Bowl champions the Chiefs inside the final two minutes.

The Chiefs have been winning close games all season, though, and there was a sense of inevitability about Patrick Mahomes striding forward for a 33-yard run to set up Spencer Shrader for a winning field goal - and 30-27 victory - as time expired.

Amazingly, it was the fifth time the Chiefs have won a game on the final play this season, and they are the first team in NFL history to win eight of their first 11 games by seven points or less as they improved to a 10-1 record.

"You want to have some blowouts,'' said Mahomes. "I would love to win a game before the very last play.''

The Lions have been blowing teams out this season, but they used an old-fashioned ground-and-pound running attack to join the Chiefs at 10-1 by beating the Colts 24-6.

Nine straight wins have given Detroit their best start since 1934, behind running backs Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery, who scored touchdowns in the same game for the ninth time this season.

The Cowboys led a mundane game in Washington 13-9 with just over five minutes left, before chaos ensued with five late touchdowns and a thrilling Commanders comeback thwarted by a missed extra point.

Trailing by 11, rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels dragged Washington back to within three points with a touchdown pass to Zach Ertz, only for Dallas speedster KaVontae Turpin to take the following kick-off 99 yards for a thrilling return touchdown.

Terry McLaurin’s jaw-dropping 86-yard score inside the final 30 seconds looked to have rescued the game for Washington, only for Austin Seibert to fluff his lines and miss the extra point, for the second time in the game.

Dallas added a second kick-off return touchdown on the next play just for good measure as they ended a five-game losing run.

"It was like Yahtzee," said Dallas head coach Mike McCarthy. "Everything was in there."

Another frantic finish came in Chicago, where the Bears scored 11 points in the final 22 seconds to force overtime against the Vikings – only to lose 30-27 on a walk-off field goal.

It is the third game in Chicago’s five-match losing streak that has been settled on the final play – including Washington’s 'Hail Mary' victory and a blocked field goal against the Packers.

Caleb Williams did at least show more improvement, but the NFC North is a brutal division, as illustrated by Minnesota going to 9-2 yet still trailing the Lions in top spot.

Further evidence of the NFC North’s standard is that the 8-3 Packers have the best record of a team in third place or lower in a division in the Super Bowl era.

Running back Josh Jacobs had 106 yards rushing and three touchdowns as the Packers beat a 49ers side that looked well out of sorts without quarterback Brock Purdy and star defender Nick Bosa through injury.

Last year’s beaten Super Bowl side are now 5-6 after a 38-10 defeat that is their heaviest since 2018, and they have plenty of injuries piling up as alarm bells start to ring over their play-off chances.

Tennessee Titans quarterback Will Levis was sacked eight times and threw a pick six but still managed to lead his side to victory over a similarly error-strewn Houston Texans in another wild game.

CJ Stroud threw two touchdowns but also two interceptions and was sacked four times as neither side could protect their quarterback – before a final mistake from Houston as Ka’imi Fairbairn missed a field goal to tie the game.

The Miami Dolphins are right back in the play-off mix after Tua Tagovailoa threw four touchdown passes in a dominant 34-15 victory over the New England Patriots that made it three wins in a row.

Fellow Florida side the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were also dominant as a 30-7 success at the New York Giants ended their four-game losing run.

With Baker Mayfield in great form, injured stars coming back and only one of their remaining opponents having a winning record, the Bucs could be a team to watch in the play-offs.

The Denver Broncos defence will cause anyone problems and quarterback Bo Nix did enough to beat the Las Vegas Raiders to go 7-5 in his rookie season.

The Seattle Seahawks continued their surprisingly good season by beating the Arizona Cardinals to take pole position in the NFC West.