A 24-yard field goal by Robbie Gould broke the tie for the San Francisco 49ers to take the 27-24 overtime win over the Los Angeles Rams and land the final wild-card spot to the Los Angeles Rams. playoffs at the National Conference.
San Francisco rallied from a 17-point lead into the third quarter with Deebo Samuel’s two touchdowns to even the score against an opponent who already had a guaranteed postseason pass and, despite the loss, won the West division title of the NFC.
In a game of cartwheels, the Rams took control with Cooper Kupp’s touchdown as they received a pass from Matthew Stafford – the third of the game – to make it 24-17.
Then came Jimmy Garoppolo’s pass to Jauan Jennings and the 49’s tied again (24-24) in the last period to force overtime and the victory that Gould sealed with his field goal at SoFi Stadium.
San Francisco’s triumph snatched the pass from New Orleans Saints, who had beaten the Atlanta Falcons 30-20 minutes earlier and expected their conference rival to lose.
Led by Tom Brady, with three shipments to the end zone, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, current NFL monarchs, beat the Carolina Panthers 41-17 and took second place in the NFC.
Brady surpassed 5,000 yards passing through the air for the second time in his career at the age of 44, and set a record for his team with 43 passes from touchdown.
Mike Evans caught two of those passes yesterday and became the first player in the NFL with eight straight seasons of at least 1,000 receiving yards.
The Buffalo Bills conquered the AFC East division by beating the Jets 27-10, while the Arizona Cardinals, another of the guests with the advance classification, lost 38-30 against Seattle Seahawks.
Miami said goodbye with a 33-24 win over the New England Patriots, who secured a wild card spot.
Pittsburgh beats Baltimore 16-13 in overtime
Ben Roethlisberger put off his retirement a few hours, or maybe longer, by leading Pittsburgh to a 16-13 overtime win over the Baltimore Ravens that left the Steelers on the brink of an unlikely trip to the postseason.
Chris Boswell hit a 36-yard field goal with 1:56 left to give the victory to Pittsburgh, who would enter the postseason depending on the result of the Chargers and Raiders in the night and final game of Week 18.
Steelers defender TJ Watt tied Michael Strahan’s record of 22.5 sacks in a single season.
The Steelers (9-7-1) and Cuervos (8-9) would have been eliminated with the tie 13-13; however, the Steel Curtain won in overtime.
Indianapolis was fighting for the ticket, but the 11-26 loss at Jacksonville gave Pittsburgh a chance to extend the career of Big Ben with a match of playoffs and, at the same time, left the possibility of Chargers and Raiders getting the last two places with a tie in the AFC.
In Houston, Ryan Tannehill tied a career-high with four touchdown passes to help the Tennessee Titans secure first place in the American Conference (AFC) for the first time in 14 years, following a 28-25 victory over the Texans.
The Titans (12-5), who secured their second straight South title the previous Sunday, will rest the first week of the postseason.
For the Texans, Davis Mills passed for 301 yards, three touchdowns, adding 2,604 passing yards this season and breaking the record for a rookie in franchise history held by David Carr (2,592).
Aaron Rodgers threw two passes to the end zone in the first half and rested the entire second half as they had nothing at stake and the Packers succumbed 37-30 to the Detroit Lions.
North division champion Green Bay (13-4) arrived in Detroit after securing first place in the NFC and rest in the first week of playoffs.
Rodgers, reigning MVP who could win his fourth award this year, completed 14 of 18 passes for 138 yards.
The Lions (3-13-1) missed the opportunity to have the first overall selection in the next draft, which will be for Jaguares.
Case Keenum got his second win replacing Baker Mayfield and the Cleveland Browns ended their unfortunate campaign by beating the Cincinnati Bengals 21-16, who had already secured their place in the postseason, opting to rest the quarterback Joe Burrow and played with substitutes.
Keenum sent touchdown passes to Jarvis Landry and Demetric Felton and the Browns (8-9) completed a surprise sweep over the AFC North champs.
In eliminated teams, Washington beat the Giants 22-7 and Minnesota beat Chicago 31-17.
On the other hand, the Denver Broncos fired head coach Vic Fangio yesterday.
– .
