Seconds after the Bears were stopped four times at the one-yard line, Bernard Berrian pulled in a 99-yard touchdown pass from Gus Frerotte that sent the Minnesota Vikings to a 34-14 victory and sole possession of the division lead on Sunday night.
Berrian burned former teammate Charles Tillman and sped down the sideline untouched to give Minnesota a 10-7 lead on the 11th 99-yard pass play in NFL history.
“That’s the first time I’ve ever seen a 99-yard play, and I’ve been playing football since I was eight years old,” Vikings defensive end Jared Allen said. “That right there, that’s just a dagger in your chest. Defensively, if that happened to us, I’d be like, ‘Holy smokes.’”
The Vikings’ previous longest offensive play came in the franchise’s second season, an 89-yard pass from Fran Tarkenton to Charley Ferguson on Nov. 11, 1962.
STEELERS 33, PATRIOTS 10
At Foxborough, Massachusetts, Pittsburgh held the Patriots to 267 yards, got two touchdown passes from Ben Roethlisberger and four field goals from Jeff Reed to beat the Patriots 33-10 on a cold, rainy day.
Matt Cassel lost two fumbles and two interceptions in the second half and was sacked five times after throwing for at least 400 yards in his past two contests. He was 19-for-39 for 169 yards and no touchdowns against Pittsburgh.
In the second half, the Steelers outscored the Patriots 23-0 and gave up just 81 yards.
Pittsburgh (9-3) stayed a game ahead of second-place Baltimore in the AFC North. New England (7-5) dropped into a second-place tie in the AFC East with Miami.
BRONCOS 34, JETS 17
At East Rutherford, New Jersey, Jay Cutler and the Broncos stopped the surging Jets, showing they might be a team to reckon with in the wide-open AFC.
Cutler passed for 357 yards and two touchdowns and rookie Peyton Hillis ran for 129 yards and a score at a wet and windy Meadowlands.
The Broncos (7-5) stopped the Jets’ five-game winning streak and lead the AFC West by three games with four weeks left.
It was a disappointing loss for New York (8-4), coming off emotional victories at New England and Tennessee and making a claim as the conference’s top team.
Cutler finished 27-of-43 and Hillis became the first to rush for 100 or more yards against the Jets’ third-ranked run defense.
FALCONS 22, CHARGERS 16
At San Diego, Matt Ryan threw two touchdown passes and Michael Turner ran for 120 yards against his former team. The Falcons (8-4) remained a game behind Tampa Bay and Carolina in the NFC South.
San Diego (4-8) lost for the fifth time in six games.
Turner carried 31 times in his sixth 100-yard game of the season.
He was allowed to leave San Diego as an unrestricted free agent after last season.
Tomlinson, the two-time defending NFL rushing champion, was held to 24 yards on 14 carries.
CHIEFS 20, RAIDERS 13
At Oakland, California, Tyler Thigpen put together one effective drive to beat the Raiders in a matchup between two of the NFL’s worst.
Thigpen engineered a 91-yard drive capped by Larry Johnson’s two-yard tie-breaking run early in the fourth quarter to lead the Chiefs to just their second win in their last 21 games.
In other NFL games, it was:
• Colts 10, Browns 6
• Giants 23, Redskins 7
• Panthers 35, Packers 31
• Buccaneers 23, Saints 20
• 49ers 10, Bills 3
• Ravens 34, Bengals 3
NFL standings
AMERICAN CONFERENCE
East
W | L | T | Pct | PF | PA | |
N.Y. Jets | 8 | 4 | 0 | 0.667 | 340 | 268 |
New England | 7 | 5 | 0 | 0.583 | 277 | 255 |
Miami | 7 | 5 | 0 | 0.583 | 253 | 257 |
Buffalo | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0.5 | 276 | 259 |
South | ||||||
Tennessee | 11 | 1 | 0 | 0.917 | 304 | 175 |
Indianapolis | 8 | 4 | 0 | 0.667 | 257 | 250 |
Jacksonville | 4 | 7 | 0 | 0.364 | 224 | 240 |
Houston | 4 | 7 | 0 | 0.364 | 252 | 293 |
North | ||||||
Pittsburgh | 9 | 3 | 0 | 0.75 | 269 | 170 |
Baltimore | 8 | 4 | 0 | 0.667 | 292 | 190 |
Cleveland | 4 | 8 | 0 | 0.333 | 213 | 247 |
Cincinnati | 1 | 10 | 1 | 0.125 | 151 | 310 |
West | ||||||
Denver | 7 | 5 | 0 | 0.583 | 292 | 319 |
San Diego | 4 | 8 | 0 | 0.333 | 274 | 252 |
Oakland | 3 | 9 | 0 | 0.25 | 172 | 250 |
Kansas City | 2 | 10 | 0 | 0.167 | 216 | 340 |
NATIONAL CONFERENCE
East
W | L | T | Pct | PF | PA | |
N.Y. Giants | 11 | 1 | 0 | 0.917 | 329 | 199 |
Dallas | 8 | 4 | 0 | 0.667 | 299 | 260 |
Washington | 7 | 5 | 0 | 0.583 | 208 | 222 |
Philadelphia | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0.542 | 319 | 249 |
South | ||||||
Tampa Bay | 9 | 3 | 0 | 0.75 | 200 | 280 |
Carolina | 9 | 3 | 0 | 0.75 | 231 | 285 |
Atlanta | 8 | 4 | 0 | 0.667 | 242 | 298 |
New Orleans | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0.5 | 301 | 337 |
North | ||||||
Minnesota | 7 | 5 | 0 | 0.583 | 287 | 260 |
Chicago | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0.5 | 281 | 268 |
Green Bay | 5 | 7 | 0 | 0.417 | 334 | 295 |
Detroit | 0 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 203 | 393 |
West | ||||||
Arizona | 7 | 5 | 0 | 0.583 | 338 | 313 |
San Francisco | 4 | 8 | 0 | 0.333 | 262 | 313 |
Seattle | 2 | 10 | 0 | 0.167 | 216 | 311 |
St Louis | 2 | 10 | 0 | 0.159 | 159 | 360 |
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB