The Kansas City Chiefs’ long unbeaten run finally came to an end at the hands of the Buffalo Bills in one of a number of statement wins in the NFL on Sunday.
After 15 straight wins the defending Super Bowl champions were outplayed in Buffalo as the Bills deservedly ran out 30-21 winners.
The Pittsburgh Steelers were also big winners as they beat arch rivals Baltimore despite not scoring a touchdown.
The Detroit Lions scored a half century against lowly Jacksonville as they continue to look the stand out side in the NFC, while the Green Bay Packers defeated Chicago on the last play of the game.
Bills end Chiefs’ perfect start
Right from intercepting Patrick Mahomes’ first pass of the game, Buffalo looked the better side as they moved just a game behind their big rivals in the race for the AFC play-offs top seed.
Mahomes kept the Chiefs in it with three touchdown passes, but just as they threatened yet another escapology act Bills quarterback Josh Allen took the game into his own hands and settled it with a barnstorming 26-yard touchdown run.
That makes four straight regular season wins over the Chiefs for Buffalo, who have lost three play-off meetings between the sides in the past four years.
This was a more controlled and complete performance than usual by the Bills, without Allen having to do everything by himself and a sixth successive victory takes them to nine wins and two losses.
It was also a rare convincing defeat of Kansas City – their first by more than a score since October 2021 – as they finish the weekend 9-1.
Buffalo kept Mahomes’ offence to a season-low 259 yards and scored 30 points against a Chiefs defence that had gone 30 games without conceding that many.
Steelers defence bottles up Baltimore
Also hot on the Chiefs’ heels are Pittsburgh, who showed why they may just have the best defence in the league. They shackled Lamar Jackson’s top-ranked offence to beat Baltimore in a tight affair.
Jackson only generated one touchdown himself, just over a minute before the end, but could not then run in a two-point conversion as the Ravens lost 18-16.
Kicker Chris Boswell booted six field goals to score all 18 points for Pittsburgh, who have now won eight of the past nine against their big division rivals.
But two-time NFL most valuable player Jackson has just one win in five games against a Steelers side he just cannot figure out. And the Ravens’ inability to win tight low-scoring games continued. All four of their defeats this season have come in matches in which they failed to score 25 points.
The Steelers, meanwhile, improve to 8-2 to take control of the AFC North but will want to see more out of Russell Wilson and the offence.
Lions rout Jags & Packers pip Bears
The Detroit Lions are looking unstoppable in the NFC as they recorded the biggest win in their history with a 52-6 rout of the Jacksonville Jaguars – who suffered their heaviest defeat as they slumped to 2-9.
Jared Goff threw a career-worst five interceptions last week but responded with 412 yards, four touchdown passes and a perfect passer rating as the Lions made it eight wins in a row to move to 9-1.
It is their best start to a season since 1934 as Dan Campbell’s side reinforced their position as the NFC favourites to make what would be their first ever Super Bowl.
The NFL’s most-played rivalry saw the Green Bay Packers win in their 209th game against the Chicago Bears thanks to a blocked field goal on the final play.
Rookie Caleb Williams did all the hard work with a great drive to set-up the field goal, but Green Bay got a hand on it to earn a 20-19 victory and an 11th straight win over the Bears.
The Minnesota Vikings won their third in a row – 23-13 over the Tennessee Titans – to go 8-2 and remain a game behind Detroit and one ahead of Green Bay in the tough NFC North.
Is the end in sight for Aaron Rodgers?
The Aaron Rodgers fairytale in New York seems over as the Jets lost 28-27 against the Indianapolis Colts to slip to 3-8 and all-but out of play-off contention.
Rodgers lost his first season with the Jets to an Achilles tendon injury, but this one is not much improvement and it will take a huge turnaround after their bye week to salvage something from this position.
In contrast to the 40-year-old oldest quarterback in the league, Anthony Richardson is the second youngest in the NFL at the age of 22 and has given his side play-off hopes by dragging his team to 5-6.
It could also be curtains for the Cincinnati Bengals who again showed plenty of heart and ability but yet again came up short against the Los Angeles Chargers to slump to 4-7.
Joe Burrow led a 21-point second-half comeback but a late missed field goal gave the Chargers the chance to win it and JK Dobbins rushed for a 29-yard touchdown 18 seconds from the end to seal a 34-27 victory. LA are now 7-3 for the season.
NFL Week 11 round-up – QBs come up big
Geno Smith scored a dramatic late touchdown with just 12 seconds left to give Seattle a surprise 20-17 win in San Francisco and leave the 49ers bottom of the NFC West.
They both sit on 5-5 though, as do the Los Angeles Rams after Matthew Stafford threw four touchdown passes to help them beat the New England Patriots 28-22.
Denver look to have found their franchise quarterback if rookie Bo Nix continues his recent form. Nix tossed four touchdowns as the Broncos battered Atlanta 38-6 to improve to 6-5.
The most versatile man in the NFL, Taysom Hill, had an extraordinary game with three touchdown runs and 248 combined yards from also acting as a receiver, passer and returner – all of which helped the New Orleans Saints beat Cleveland 35-14.
Tua Tagovailoa threw three touchdowns as Miami moved to 4-6 by beating Las Vegas 34-19 to cling to their play-off hopes.
NFL Results – Week 11
-
Baltimore Ravens 16-18 Pittsburgh Steelers
-
Jacksonville Jaguars 6-52 Detroit Lions
-
Los Angeles Rams 28-22 New England Patriots
-
Cleveland Browns 14-35 New Orleans Saints
-
Indianapolis Colts 28-27 New York Jets
-
Minnesota Vikings 23-13 Tennessee Titans
-
Las Vegas Raiders 19-34 Miami Dolphins
-
Green Bay Packers 20-19 Chicago Bears
-
Kansas City Chiefs 21-30 Buffalo Bills
-
Seattle Seahawks 20-17 San Francisco 49ers
-
Atlanta Falcons 6-38 Denver Broncos
-
Cincinnati Bengals 27-34 Los Angeles Chargers
