Vikings 31, Packers 29
Sam Darnold threw three touchdown passes and Jordan Addison scored twice as the undefeated Minnesota Vikings built an early 28-point lead and hung on down the stretch to beat the Green Bay Packers 31-29 on Sunday.
The Vikings (4-0) are off to their best start since 2016, when they won their first five games before slumping to an 8-8 finish. They’ve trailed for less than 3 1/2 minutes all season.
Minnesota spoiled the return of Packers quarterback Jordan Love, who returned after missing two games with an injured left medial collateral ligament. He threw for 389 yards and four touchdowns, both career highs. But he also matched a career high with three interceptions while going 32 of 54.
Green Bay (2-2) got within 31-29 on Dontayvion Wicks’ second fourth-quarter touchdown catch — a 17-yarder with 56 seconds left. Minnesota’s Josh Oliver recovered Daniel Whelan’s ensuing onside kick — it actually was a drop kick — to secure the victory.
Darnold was 20 of 28 for 275 yards with touchdown passes of 29 yards to Addison, 2 yards to Oliver and 14 yards to Justin Jefferson. He also threw an interception and lost a fumble.
Bengals 34, Panthers 24
Joe Burrow threw for 232 yards and two touchdowns, Chase Brown ran for 80 yards and two scores and the Cincinnati Bengals held on to beat the Carolina Panthers 34-24 on Sunday for their first win of the season.
Ja’Marr Chase had three catches for 85 yards, including a 63-yard catch-and-run touchdown.
Zack Moss had 78 yards from scrimmage and a touchdown reception and Tee Higgins had six catches for 60 yards and drew two defensive pass interference penalties near the goal line for the Bengals (1-3).
Andy Dalton threw for 220 yards with two touchdowns and one interception but fell to 2-2 overall against his former team.
Chuba Hubbard had another strong game for Carolina, rushing for 104 yards and a touchdown and Diontae Johnson overcame a groin injury to catch seven passes for 83 yards and a score.
Broncos 10, Jets 9
Bo Nix and the offense overcame a miserable first half and the Denver Broncos held on to beat a banged-up Aaron Rodgers and the sloppy New York Jets 10-9 in a defensive standoff on a rainy Sunday.
Nix was 7 of 15 for minus-7 yards in the first two quarters, and finished with just 60 yards on 12-of-25 passing — but the Broncos (2-2) ran for 126 yards and controlled the momentum in the second half.
With the Broncos trailing 6-0, Nix found a wide-open Courtland Sutton in the back of the end zone to give Denver the lead with 3:08 left in the third quarter.
Rodgers came up limping a bit after a sack late in the fourth quarter and seemed to be favoring his left leg — the same on which his Achilles tendon was surgically repaired last year — and was looked at on the sideline by trainers.
New York got down to the Broncos 32 and Greg Zuerlein, who made three earlier kicks, lined up for a potential winning field goal — but his 50-yarder curved to the right. Nix and the Broncos were able to kneel down for their second straight road victory after also topping Tampa Bay last week.
Rodgers was 24 of 42 for 225 yards and was sacked five times. New York also was penalized 13 times.
Bucs 33, Eagles 16
Baker Mayfield accounted for three touchdowns and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers sacked Jalen Hurts six times in a 33-16 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles.
Mayfield threw for 347 yards and two touchdowns, while Mike Evans became the Buccaneers’ career scoring leader.
Mayfield completed 30 of 47 passes without an interception and the offense scored a touchdown on its opening possession for the first time in 21 games. Evans’ 2-yard scoring reception finished the 10-play, 79-yard drive that set the tone for the Bucs, who outgained the Eagles 254 yards to zero in building a 24-0 lead.
Evans finished with eight receptions for 94 yards, and moved ahead of Martin Gramatica (592) into first place on Tampa Bay’s scoring list with 596. Mayfield also threw a first-quarter TD pass to Trey Palmer and scored on a 1-yard run on fourth-and-goal to make it 21-0 early in the second quarter.
Saquon Barkley rushed for 94 yards on 10 carries. Jalen Hurts finished 18 of 30 for 150 yards and no interceptions.
Texans 24, Jaguars 20
C.J. Stroud threw for 345 yards and two touchdowns, capped by a 1-yard pass to third-string running back Dare Ogunbowale with 18 seconds left, to give the Texans the 24-20 victory.
Houston forced a three-and-out to get the ball back with less than three minutes to go.
Stroud then led a nine-play, 69-yard drive to give the Texans (3-1) their first points of the second half and survive a scare by the winless Jaguars (0-4).
Nico Collins helped Houston to the win with a career-high 12 receptions for 151 yards and a TD for his third 100-yard game this season. He has 489 yards receiving this season to become the first Texans to surpass 450 yards receiving in the first four games.
Trevor Lawrence threw for 169 yards and two touchdowns as his streak of consecutive starts without a win stretched to nine games.
The Jaguars fell to 0-4 for the first time since opening the 2021 season with five straight losses.
Falcons 26, Saints 24
Younghoe Koo kicked a career-best 58-yard field goal with two seconds remaining as the Atlanta Falcons rallied for a 26-24 victory over the New Orleans Saints without scoring an offensive touchdown Sunday.
Koo kicked four field goals in all, also connecting from 53, 44 and 42 yards to give the Falcons (2-2) a desperately needed home victory. It was his eighth game-winning kick in the final 10 seconds since the beginning of the 2021 season — the most in the league during that span.
The Falcons lost their first two games at Mercedes-Benz Stadium and seemed on the verge of falling to 0-3 in Atlanta when Alvin Kamara scored on a 1-yard run with a minute remaining to push the Saints (2-2) to a 24-23 lead.
Taysom Hill scored on a pair of touchdown runs for the Saints before going out, appearing to reaggravate a chest injury that kept him from playing in a 15-12 loss to Philadelphia the previous week.
Colts 27, Steelers 24
Joe Flacco relieved the injured Anthony Richardson and threw two touchdown passes, and the Colts got the stop they needed in the final minute to preserve a 27-24 victory over the previously unbeaten Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday.
Flacco completed 16 of 26 passed for 168 yards.
Indy signed Flacco as a free agent to back up the injury-prone Richardson.
Justin Fields played well again, running for two second-half scores and finding Pat Freiermuth for an 8-yard TD pass on third-and-goal to get within 27-24 with 3:40 to play. But Pittsburgh couldn’t recover from a botched snap that resulted in a 12-yard loss on its final possession.
Fields was 22 of 34 for 312 yards and ran 10 times for 55 yards but was but was sacked four times and lost a fumble — one of two Pittsburgh turnovers. George Pickens finished with seven receptions for 113 yards and also lost a fumble.
Bears 24, Rams 18
Caleb Williams led four scoring drives, D’Andre Swift had 165 yards from scrimmage and a touchdown, and Chicago held off the Los Angeles Rams 24-18 on Sunday.
The Bears (2-2) scored touchdowns on back-to-back possessions in the second half after struggling early. Jaquan Brisker intercepted Matthew Stafford with about a minute remaining following a punt on the previous play.
Williams threw for 157 yards and a touchdown after setting a Bears rookie record by passing for 363 yards on 52 attempts in a loss at Indianapolis last week.
Matthew Stafford moved ahead of Eli Manning for 10th on the NFL’s all-time passing list with 57,025 yards. The two-time Pro Bowler completed 20 of 29 passes for 224 yards. But he threw a late interception on first down at the Los Angeles 8. The Rams also had trouble finishing drives, with just one touchdown in four trips inside the red zone.
Chiefs 17, Chargers 10
Patrick Mahomes passed for 245 yards and a touchdown and the Kansas City Chiefs rallied from an early 10-point deficit to beat the Los Angeles Chargers 17-10 on Sunday.
Making his 100th regular-season start, Mahomes completed 19 of 29 passes for the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs, who are 4-0 for the first time since 2020. Travis Kelce had a season-high seven receptions for 89 yards and set the franchise’s career receptions record, surpassing fellow tight end Tony Gonzalez.
Kansas City has won six straight over the Chargers. It also has 11 straight road victories its AFC West rival, the longest active winning streak by a visiting squad and tied for third all-time.
The Chargers (2-2) scored 10 points off a pair of Chiefs turnovers — a fumble by Carson Steele and Mahomes’ fifth interception of the season — but struggled after that.
Mahomes heaved a 54-yard pass to Xavier Worthy in the third quarter for the Chiefs’ first touchdown, and Samaje Perine put Kansas City ahead with a 2-yard touchdown run in the fourth.
LA’s Justin Herbert went 16 of 27 for 179 yards. The Chargers used a patchwork offensive line because of injuries to tackles Rashawn Slater and Joe Alt.
Herbert was sacked twice by Chris Jones and was hit 10 times on 31 dropbacks.
Commanders 42, Cardinals 14
Jayden Daniels threw for 233 yards and a touchdown and ran for a score, and the Washington Commanders won their third straight with a 42-14 victory over the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday.
Daniels — the No. 2 overall pick last spring — became the fourth quarterback in the Super Bowl era to run for four touchdowns in his first four career games, joining Cam Newton, Robert Griffin III and Anthony Richardson. The Commanders have scored at least 30 points in two straight games for the first time since 2017.
Daniels completed 26 of 30 passes and has an 82% completion percentage in his short career.
Jeremy McNichols ran for two touchdowns and Brian Robinson Jr. had 101 yards on the ground.
Arizona’s James Conner had a 6-yard touchdown run near the end of the third quarter, cutting Washington’s lead to 27-14. Conner ran for 104 yards. Kyler Murray completed 16 of 22 passes for 142 yards and a touchdown, but was sacked four times.
Raiders 20, Browns 16
The Las Vegas Raiders used a strong defense as well as a balanced running game to hold off a late rally to beat the Cleveland Browns 20-16 on Sunday.
Cleveland drove to the Raiders 9-yard line, but Deshaun Watson was sacked by Charles Snowden with 41 seconds left to seal the victory.
The Raiders defense held the Browns to 241 total yards.
Alexander Mattison rushed for 60 yards for the Raiders, who totaled 152 on the ground and five different players had runs for at least 10 yards, the highest number since 2010 against the Seahawks. The Raiders also became the first team since the Jets in 2010 against the Bengals to have two receivers score rushing touchdowns.
Las Vegas hadn’t rushed for more than 55 yards in a game this season until Sunday.
Gardner Minshew was only 14 for 24 for 130 yards. He was sacked twice by reigning AP Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett.
Watson completed all eight passes in leading the Browns to a touchdown drive to open the game that lasted 9:22, but finished 24 for 32 for 176 yards.
49ers 30, Patriots 13
Brock Purdy threw a touchdown pass, Fred Warner returned an interception for a score and the San Francisco 49ers snapped a two-game skid by beating the New England Patriots 30-13 on Sunday.
San Francisco (2-2) got field goals from Jake Moody on the opening two drives before Warner delivered his latest big play of the season, making a diving interception against Jacoby Brissett and returning it 45 yards for his second career TD. Warner has three forced fumbles and two interceptions through four games this season.
It was the first interception of the season for the Patriots, who have been unable to get any consistent passing game generated with Brissett at quarterback, which will lead to more questions about when rookie Drake Maye will take over.
Brissett went 19 for 32 for 168 yards and was sacked six times for 25 yards. New England has been held under 150 yards passing in each of the first four games of the season for the first time since 1971.
SUNDAY NIGHT: Ravens 35, Bills 10
Derrick Henry busted out the longest run in the team’s 29 years in Baltimore on the way to a 199-yard game, Lamar Jackson threw for two touchdowns and rushed for another, and the Ravens handed Josh Allen and the Bills their first loss of the season, 35-10.
Henry took his first handoff 87 yards to the house to give the Ravens (2-2) an early lead they never relinquished. Jackson, the two-time and reigning NFL MVP, completed 13 of 18 passes for 156 yards with TD throws to Henry and Justice Hill and ran for 54 yards, with Buffalo (3-1) finding no answers to stop Baltimore’s offense.
The Ravens outgained the Bills 427 yards.
TONIGHT on MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL: A DOUBLEHEADER:
The winless (0-3) Tennessee Titans are in Miami to take on the (1-2) Dolphins. (7:30PM Eastern)
The undefeated (3-0) Seattle Seahawks are in Detroit to battle the (2-1) Lions. (8:15PM Eastern)
