NFL roundup: Packers beat Bears on Karl Brooks’ FG block on final play

CHICAGO — Jordan Love and the Green Bay Packers made just enough plays to squeeze out yet another win over the Chicago Bears.

This time, it took a late touchdown and a blocked field goal.

Love ran for a go-ahead score in the closing minutes, and Green Bay hung on to beat Chicago 20-19 on Sunday when Karl Brooks blocked Cairo Santos’ kick from 46 yards as time expired.

Christian Watson set a career high with 150 yards on just four catches, including a 60-yarder that set up Love’s touchdown run, and the Packers (7-3) avoided falling further behind Detroit and Minnesota in the NFC North. They also beat the last-place Bears (4-6) for the 11th straight time, the longest streak by either team in the storied rivalry.

“We knew it was going to be a four-quarter game, four-quarter battle,” Love said. “And I’m proud of the guys. Nobody batted an eye, nobody flinched. It wasn’t by any means our perfect game or our best game.”

Love put Green Bay on top 20-19 when he scored from the 1 with 2:59 left. That touchdown was set up by the long completion to Watson, who got up after making a lunging catch and ran all the way to the 14. Chicago’s Jaylon Johnson tripped when he got his feet tangled up with Watson trying to defend the pass.

Love got stopped just short of the end zone on a 13-yard run before scoring on the next play. The 2-point conversion failed.

“Phenomenal play, phenomenal catch by Christian, and then just obviously the awareness to get up not being touched and to go put together a huge run. I think Christian made some big-time plays in the game, had a couple big-time catches and I’m proud of the way he balled out,” Love said.

Green Bay sacked Caleb Williams on the first two plays of the next possession. But facing third-and-19, Williams regrouped. The No. 1 draft pick hit fellow rookie Rome Odunze with passes on back-to-back plays to put the ball in Packers territory.

The Bears drove all the way to the 28, only to end a chaotic week with their fourth straight loss when Brooks got through the center of the line and reached up with his left hand to block Santos’ kick.

“I kinda knew, like, I’m gonna block this,” Brooks said. “I said that to myself. I heard the call. I saw Lukas (Van Ness) was next to me and I told him, ‘Hey, just do this, this for me.’ He did it and I got a hand on it.”

The Bears fired offensive coordinator Shane Waldron on Tuesday and replaced him with passing game coordinator Thomas Brown, hoping to spark a unit that ranks among the worst in the NFL.

Love completed 13 of 17 passes for 261 yards and a touchdown. He also threw his league-leading 11th interception, matching his total from last year.

Josh Jacobs ran for 76 yards and a score for the Packers. Brenton Cox, active for the first time this season, had a sack, as did Rashan Gary and T.J. Slaton, helping Green Bay beat Chicago for the 26th time in 29 games.

Williams threw for 231 yards and ran for 70 after regressing in the previous three games.

Chicago’s D’Andre Swift had 14 carries for 71 yards. His 39-yard score near the end of the third quarter gave the Bears a 19-14 lead.

“There were a lot of positives to build from,” Bears coach Matt Eberflus said. “That’s what you have to do. The last three weeks the offense hadn’t played well. We hadn’t played good complementary ball on defense. We hadn’t done a lot of things together the last three weeks but today, today we played complementary football.”

The Packers were in position to add to a 7-3 lead early in the second quarter. But Love, who’s been intercepted at least once in every game, overthrew Tucker Kraft under pressure on third down at the 15 and Terrell Smith picked it off at the 1.

The Bears then scored their first touchdown since the final minute of a loss at Washington in Week 8. Roschon Johnson powered in from the 1 in the closing seconds of the half to cap a 13-play drive. The offense had gone 25 possessions without reaching the end zone.

LIONS 52, JAGUARS 6

DETROIT — Jared Goff threw two of his four touchdown passes to Amon-Ra St. Brown, David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs combined for three rushing touchdowns, as Detroit routes Jacksonville.

The NFC-leading Lions (9-1) have won eight straight and nine of their first 10 games in a season for the first time since 1934.

Detroit’s winning margin of 46 points was the largest in franchise history, and it handed Jacksonville its biggest-ever defeat. The Lions also set a franchise record in total yards with 644.

The Jaguars (2-9) have lost four consecutive games for the second time this season and 14 of 17 since last year, a series of slumps that may cost coach Doug Pederson his job.

SAINTS 35, BROWNS 14

NEW ORLEANS — Taysom Hill capped a 138-yard, three-touchdown performance on the ground with a 75-yard scoring run, and New Orleans improved to 2-0 under interim coach Darren Rizzi with a victory over Cleveland.

Hill’s two other touchdowns went for 10 and 33 yards — the second on fourth and short — to more than balance out his two turnovers on an interception and fumble. The 34-year-old Hill also moved into ninth place in franchise history with 44 total TDs, four behind receiver Eric Martin.

Hill also completed an 18-yard pass and returned a kickoff 42 yards.

Derek Carr passed for 248 yards and two touchdowns for New Orleans (4-7), highlighted by Marquez Valdes-Scantling’s 71-yard catch and run on a short crossing route.

Jameis Winston passed for 395 yards and two TDs for the Browns (2-8) in his return to the city he called home for the previous four NFL seasons.

RAMS 28, PATRIOTS 22

FOXBOROUGH, Mass — Matthew Stafford threw for 295 yards and four touchdowns, including a 69-yard score to Cooper Kupp on the second play of the second half to help Los Angeles pull away and beat New England.

New England trailed 14-10 after Rams kicker Joshua Karty’s 26-yard field-goal attempt at the end of the first half clanged off the right upright. Los Angeles received the kick to start the second half, and on second down Stafford found Kupp near midfield; Patriots cornerback Jonathan Jones dove for the pass and missed, leaving no one between Kupp and the end zone.

The Patriots drove into Los Angeles territory, with a first-and-goal from the Rams 5, but settled for a field goal. On the Rams’ next possession, Stafford found Colby Parkinson in the corner of the end zone to make it 28-13.

A missed extra point and a false start on fourth-and-1 doomed two Patriots’ attempts to come back. New England got the ball back at its own 10 with 2:14 left and one timeout for one last try, but Kamren Kinchens intercepted Drake Maye to ice it.

DOLPHINS 34, RAIDERS 19

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Tua Tagovailoa threw three touchdown passes, De’Von Achane ran for a score, and Miami beat Las Vegas to win their second straight game.

It was another strong victory for the Dolphins (4-6), who have not matched their offensive fireworks from last season but are coming off a gritty Monday night win over the Rams. The Raiders (2-8) lost their sixth straight game.

Tagovailoa led the Dolphins down the field with long, methodical drives — three of them more than seven minutes — that all ended in scores, as Miami scored 30 points for the first time this season.

Tagovailoa completed 28 of 36 passes for 288 yards with touchdowns of 1 and 57 yards to tight end Jonnu Smith, and an 8-yard TD to receiver Tyreek Hill. Hill caught seven passes for 61 yards and has scored in consecutive games for the first time this season. Smith had a season-high 101 yards receiving.

The Raiders trailed 24-14 in the fourth quarter after Achane ran for a 2-yard score that added to his 17 carries for 73 yards.

VIKINGS 23, TITANS 13

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Sam Darnold overcame an early fumble by throwing for 246 yards and two touchdowns and running for a score and Minnesota beats Tennessee.

Darnold had been picked off five times over the previous two games, matching his total over the first seven games of the season. Then his toss to Aaron Jones on the Vikings’ third offensive play was fumbled and recovered by Jeffery Simmons for the Titans.

The quarterback answered right back to help the Vikings (8-2) win their third straight and improve to 5-0 against AFC teams this season. He found Jordan Addison for a 47-yard catch-and-run touchdown as the Vikings didn’t trail again as they scored 16 straight for a 16-3 halftime lead.

Andrew Van Ginkel had his two sacks on back-to-back plays as Minnesota finished with five. Pat Jones II also had two. Harrison Smith clinched the win with an interception with 1:50 left, giving the Vikings’ fans that turned this into a near home game another reason to celebrate chanting “SKOL.”

BRONCOS 38, FALCONS

DENVER — Bo Nix threw for 307 yards and a season-best four touchdowns, Javonte Williams got a push across the goal line from a half-dozen of his teammates, and Denver rolled past Atlanta.

Nix, who was 28 for 33, joined Hall of Famer Peyton Manning as the only rookie QBs in NFL history to throw for 200-plus yards with two or more touchdowns in four consecutive home games.

The Broncos (6-5) snapped a two-game skid and made it an unhappy homecoming for safety Justin Simmons, who spent his first eight seasons in Denver before the Broncos unloaded his $18.5 million salary last winter. Simmons signed a one-year, $7.5 million deal with the Falcons (6-5), who have lost two in a row.

Simmons had five tackles and tried to stop Williams at the 5-yard line, holding his ground for a second or two as reinforcements arrived from both teams for a shoving match that resembled a rugby scrum. The Broncos won it when they shoved Williams into the end zone to complete his 14-yard scoring run that gave Denver an early 14-3 lead.

SEAHAWKS 20, 49ERS 17

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Geno Smith scored on a 13-yard scramble with 12 seconds remaining and Seattle snapped a six-game losing streak against San Francisco with a victory.

Smith completed seven of eight passes for 65 yards to get the Seahawks (5-5) in position to score after taking over at their 20 with 2:38 remaining. He then ran it in against a depleted defense for the 49ers (5-5) that sorely missed injured edge rusher Nick Bosa on the final drive.

The win moved Seattle into a three-way tie for second place in the NFC West with San Francisco and the Rams, a game behind Arizona. The Niners have lost three division games, blowing fourth-quarter leads in all of them after dropping games earlier this season to the Rams and Cardinals.