NFL scores Week 15: Live updates on playoff picture, Packers clinch NFC North, Teddy Bridgewater injury (2024)

Between COVID-19 distorting the schedule and Urban Meyer's firing, it was a wild start to Week 15 in the NFL.

Some of Sunday's highlights: the Lions shocked the Cardinals, the Giants see another double-digit loss season as the Cowboys win again and the Steelers stay alive. The Packers are the first team to clinch a playoff spot and the playoff picture becomes clearer. Also, Teddy Bridgewater suffered a scary injury.

This all-day live experience follows The Athletic's coverage and more from Sunday's early-window and afternoon games.

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The Athletic will also have a live blog surrounding Sunday Night Football's game between the Saints and Buccaneers.

Week 15

All times ET

Dec. 16

Kansas City 34, L.A. Chargers 28 (OT) | Recap | BOX SCORE

Dec. 18

Indianapolis 27, New England 17 | Recap | BOX SCORE

Dec. 19

Buffalo 31, Carolina 14 | BOX SCORE

Arizona 30, Detroit 12 | BOX SCORE

Miami 31, N.Y. Jets 24 | BOX SCORE

Dallas 21, N.Y. Giants 6 | BOX SCORE

Pittsburgh 19, Tennessee 13 | BOX SCORE

Houston 30, Jacksonville 16 | BOX SCORE

Cincinnati 15, Denver 10 | BOX SCORE

San Francisco 31, Atlanta 13 | BOX SCORE

Green Bay 31, Baltimore 30 | BOX SCORE

New Orleans 9, Tampa Bay 0 | BOX SCORE

Dec. 20

Las Vegas at Cleveland, 5 p.m.

TV: NFL Network | Odds | BOX SCORE

Minnesota at Chicago, 8:15 p.m.

TV: ESPN, ABC, ESPN+ | Odds | BOX SCORE

Dec. 21

Seattle at L.A. Rams, 7 p.m.

TV: Fox | Odds | BOX SCORE

Washington at Philadelphia, 7 p.m.

TV: Fox | Odds | BOX SCORE

STANDINGS

(Photo: Tommy Gilligan / USA Today

Before Broncos coach Vic Fangio addressed his team following its deflating, 15-10 loss to the Bengals on Sunday, a defeat that took a crowbar to Denver’s postseason hopes, he delivered news that brought a modicum of relief to those gathered in the locker room.

Teddy Bridgewater, the veteran quarterback who has started all 14 games for the Broncos this season, suffered a brutal-looking head injury in the third quarter Sunday as he attempted to dive forward for extra yardage on a scramble, his helmet slamming into the grass at Empower Field. He was strapped to a board after his face mask was removed from his helmet, then was carted off the field after players from both teams made their way to send him off at midfield. Bridgewater was taken to a local hospital for further evaluation.

After the game, Fangio told his players that tests conducted there had come back clean. Bridgewater was expected to stay in the hospital overnight as a precaution, and Fangio said it was his belief the quarterback had suffered a concussion, but the overall prognosis was positive.

“Everything has checked out good to this point,” Fangio said. “They are going to keep him overnight for observations, but they think he should be and will be fine.”

Given how scary the scene appeared on the field in the moments after the injury, the news brought comfort.

Read more below.

(Photo: Jack Dempsey / Associated Press)

Even when his undermanned Ravens trailed the Green Bay Packers by two touchdowns midway through the fourth quarter, John Harbaugh was already preparing to go for the win. He told his quarterback, Tyler Huntley, as much.

“Two drives before, Coach Harbaugh was like, ‘We’re going to score two touchdowns, and we’ve got good faith that we’re going to get that two-point conversion,'” Huntley said. “That last touchdown, we scored, so it just didn’t go as planned.”

For the third consecutive game, Harbaugh made a controversial decision involving a two-point try. For the third consecutive game, the Ravens didn’t back his aggressiveness by converting. And for the third consecutive game, Harbaugh was left to explain why he chose to keep his offense on the field rather than send arguably the most accurate kicker in the history of the NFL out there to try to tie the game with an extra point.

“I think our chances of winning right there were a little bit higher than in overtime, maybe, if you calculate it out,” Harbaugh said later. “I felt good about it. I thought we had a good play.”

Yet, Huntley’s two-point pass attempt to tight end Mark Andrews was tipped away by Packers safety Darnell Savage Jr. and the Ravens’ comeback fell short in a 31-30 loss Sunday at M&T Bank Stadium.

Read more below.

(Photo of Mark Andrews and the Packers’ Darnell Savage and Eric Stokes: Patrick Smith / Getty Images)

George Kittle is a burning, churning bundle of energy. But it’s always positive energy.

Which is why the tight end’s reaction last week when asked about teammate Trent Williams was so notable.

“The lack of respect Trent Williams gets, I think, is outrageous,” said Kittle in referencing Williams’ ho-hum showing in the fan portion of Pro Bowl balloting.

He was just getting warmed up.

“I know that he gets highlights posted every once in a while,” Kittle continued, “but you just watch every single game, every single clip, he just physically dominates every single person that’s across from him. And the fact that he’s not talked about more, I think it’s outrageous. He’s a hell of a football player who needs way more recognition.”

When the fan portion of Pro Bowl voting wrapped up earlier this month, Williams was eighth among offensive tackles and was behind the likes of the Cardinals’ Kelvin Beachum and Seahawks’ Duane Brown. To put that in further perspective, 49ers right guard Daniel Brunskill, who is having a decidedly un-Pro Bowl-like season, ranked seventh among guards.

According to Pro Football Focus, Williams not only warrants being ahead of his peers, he deserves to be in a class by himself. The scouting service has been frothing in recent weeks about Williams’ overall grade, which creeps a little higher each week.

Read more below.

(Photo of Jeff Wilson with Trent Williams in background: Jed Jacobsohn / Associated Press)

Dak Prescott and the Cowboys offense lost Sunday. Not on the scoreboard, but to their defensive teammates. Prescott and the offense made a friendly wager with DeMarcus Lawrence and the defense: offensive touchdowns vs. defensive takeaways.

Cowboys defense 4, Cowboys offense 2.

“The defense is kicking our ass,” Prescott said after Sunday’s 21-6 win over the New York Giants at MetLife Stadium. “They obviously won this one, but we’ll make sure it carries over.”

What’s the payoff on the bet?

“We’ll keep rolling it over, so we’ll figure it out at the end of the year,” Prescott said while laughing. “Great celebration, hopefully.”

The wager was made Saturday before the team boarded its flight for New Jersey.

“Credit to them,” Prescott said, “but this thing is ongoing. We’ll catch up.”

Before answering another question, Prescott quickly jumped in to finish his thought.

“Hopefully not,” he said. “Hopefully we don’t catch up, honestly. I hope they keep rolling them like that.”

The moment it started to feel different — when it shifted from a contender starting slow against an underdog to one team just kicking the crap out of another — came two plays past the two-minute warning in the first half.

The Lions’ defense had just completed a goal-line stand to preserve a 10-0 lead. The offense took over, backed up to its own 3, and coach Dan Campbell faced a decision: Milk the clock, force Arizona to burn its timeouts and try to sneak into halftime? Or open it up, trust his QB and see about tacking on points?

He opted for the latter. And the Lions responded.

On second down from his own 4-yard line, Jared Goff delivered a 15-yard completion out to Josh Reynolds, despite edge rusher Chandler Jones swatting him in the helmet just after his release. (Jones was flagged for roughing the passer.) Two plays later, Goff hit Amon-Ra St. Brown for a catch-and-run 14-yard gain, and Goff took another late hit. This one, from Jordan Phillips, ended with his leg getting caught underneath Phillips’ weight as they went to the ground.

After a couple of minutes on the turf, Goff limped to the sideline, sat out a play, then returned to a rather boisterous ovation from the home crowd. He capped the drive — a 98-yard statement — with a touchdown pass to Reynolds.

The Lions headed to halftime with a 17-0 lead that they absolutely deserved. They kept firing in the second half, en route to a 30-12 victory.

The better team — at least on this particular day — won.

Read more below:

(Photo: Kirthmon F. Dozier / USA Today)

You just cannot exterminate these Steelers. If they were a movie, they’d be “Hard to Kill” with Steven Seagal. A song? “Survivor” by Destiny’s Child.

To quote John Belushi’s Bluto in “National Lampoon’s Animal House”: “Over? Did you say ‘over’? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?”

Teams are not supposed to win when they rush for a measly 35 yards and are gouged for 201 on the ground. You don’t win when you are outgained 318-168, or when you make just 12 first downs to the opponent’s 22 or convert only 2 of 11 third downs to the opponent’s 8 of 18.

Everything about the game against Tennessee at Heinz Field on Sunday had loser and virtual playoff elimination written all over it, except for two glaring statistics: The Titans committed four turnovers to none for the Steelers, and Pittsburgh’s defense, for all its trouble stopping the run, kept Tennessee out of the end zone all but once. The Steelers won, somehow, 19-13.

Read more below.

Kyler Murray’s face wore a combination of disbelief and disgust, his head shook back and forth and he audibly sighed before the question he was surely waiting for was asked.

The Arizona Cardinals had a hot start in 2020 that eventually turned into a collapse. And one week after blowing a massive opportunity against the Rams to clinch a playoff spot, the 10-win Cardinals walked into Ford Field on Sunday for a date with the hapless Detroit Lions. They left missing a pair of kneecaps (courtesy of Dan Campbell) and a whole lot of pride. Is this Cardinals team — on the heels of an embarrassing 30-12 drubbing at woeful Detroit on Sunday — headed for the same collapse?

“No,” Murray said midway through another sigh and headshake. “No. We’re still 10-4. We’re not going to allow that to happen.”

It was hardly a convincing declaration, but given the moment, it’s hard to see much convincing with an Arizona team that was completely outworked, outcoached, outhit and outschemed by Campbell, defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn and the now 2-11-1 Lions.

Read more below:

Tyler Huntley scores on an 8-yard TD run to make it a 31-30 game, but the Packers stop the Ravens 2-point attempt.

The Packers recovered the onside kick for the 31-30. The Ravens lose third straight to fall to 8-6. And with Bengals victory over Denver, Ravens fall out of first place in AFC North.

Meanwhile, the Packers are NFC North champions. The Packers clinched their third-consecutive NFC North division title. With the win, head coach Matt LaFleur is the third coach since 1970 to win at least 11 games in each of his first three seasons as an NFL head coach, joining Jim Harbaugh (San Francisco, 2011-13) and Chuck Pagano (Indianapolis, 2012-14).

Jimmy Garoppolo threw for 235 yards, Jeff Wilson rushed for 110 more and the 49ers defeated the Atlanta Falcons 31-13 on Sunday. With the win, San Francisco improves to 8-6 and stays in the No. 6 spot in the playoff race. The Rams, who play on Tuesday in a rescheduled game, are currently ahead of San Francisco at No. 5 in the NFC wild-card race.

Garoppolo was nearly perfect throughout, completing 18 of his 23 pass attempts, one of them for a 4-yard touchdown pass to Jauan Jennings. George Kittle cooled off slightly from his recent tear by bringing in six catches for 93 yards, while versatile receiver Deebo Samuel compiled 89 total offensive yards (60 receiving, 29 rushing).

(Photo: Stan Szeto / USA Today)

Denver quarterback Teddy Bridgewater was carted off the field after lying motionless on the field following a 6-yard scramble where he appeared to hit his head on the ground.

Bridgewater dove while rushing for a first down, was hit by linebacker Joe Bachie and remained on the ground. He was tended to by medical personnel before being carted off the field.

(Photo: Ron Chenoy / USA Today)

Quarterback Josh Allen threw three touchdown passes and running back Devin Singletary rushed for another as the Buffalo Bills (8-6) snapped a two-game losing streak with 31-14 against the Panthers (5-9) on Sunday. The victory keeps the Bills, who would currently be a wild-card team, in the playoff picture.

Receiver Gabriel Davis was key to that effort as he finished with five catches for a game-high 86 yards and two touchdowns.

The Panthers dropped their fourth straight game. Quarterback Cam Newton completed 18-of-38 passes for 156 yards, a touchdown and an interception. He also rushed for 71 yards and a touchdown.

(Photo: Rich Barnes / USA Today)

Evan McPherson tacks on a 26-yard FG to make it 9-3 Bengals. They've scored on back-to-back drives, but they had first and 10 at the Denver 13. Disappointing not to cash in with a TD there. Two-score lead almost would feel invincible against this Denver offense.

The Athletic's Ravens writer Jeff Zrebiec: Ravens-Packers tied at 14 heading into halftime. Ravens out-gained Packers, 183-178. Ravens possessed the ball for 17:11 compared to 12:49 for GB. Tyler Huntley 15-for-22 for 137 yards, 2 TDs; 15 yds rushing Aaron Rodgers 11-for-15 for 147 yards, 1 TD; 8 yds rushing

The Athletic's Packers writer Matt Schneidman: At halftime, the Packers and Ravens are tied at 14. Green Bay receives the second-half kickoff with a chance to grab its first lead of the day. Some historical notes from the first half: Davante Adams passed Jordy Nelson for second place on the Packers all-time TD catches list and Rodgers moved within two TD passes of Brett Favre’s franchise record.

That touchdown run by Deebo Samuel is his team-leading seventh of the season and ties him with Lenny Moore for the most rushing TDs by a wide receiver in a season. Moore, who played flanker as well as halfback for the Colts, had seven in 1961.

Rams cornerback Jalen Ramsey has been activated off the reserve/COVID-19 list, the team announced Sunday afternoon, making his return set for Tuesday night against the Seahawks.

Ramsey's return comes a day after the Rams activated six players, including receiver Odell Beckham and running back Darrell Henderson, from the reserve list. Ramsey had missed the Week 14 win over Arizona because he had a positive COVID-19 test.

(Photo: Jayne Kamin-Oncea / Getty Images)