NFL Passion Week 12 Monday Edition: A Fight for Survival

Sunday looked just like the beginning of the end of an NFL regular season. With an abundance of teams fighting for their playoff lives and others all but walking the plank some teams took control of their destinies, some sank even further in the standings, and some can pretty much forget about it. But absolutely everyone fought, there was only one blowout Sunday, a Patriots victory over the wishy washy Eagles. It looks like Philly only comes to play against division rivals, their season is over. Finally that's done with and we can all officially move on. The Bills and Chargers sure wish they could play the final quarter of their games over again, as the Jets and Broncos continue to contend for the final AFC wild card spot, while San Diego and Buffalo's season continue to spiral downward. Caleb Hanie fought for the Chicago Bears, but too many rookie mistakes cost them any chance to defeat the Oakland Raiders. Oakland has now one three straight but still can't get Tim Tebow and the Broncos off of their heels in the AFC. Man those guys are annoying. In Texas Matt Leinart threw a sweet touchdown pass and looked really good to start the game for the Texans, and now he gets too sit and watch the rest of the season with Matt Schaub. It's ashame that all these injuries keep playing with Houston's promising 2011-2012 run. They've faced injuries all year and have worked through them, let's see if they can face this final (fingers crossed) challenge of riding their third string quarterback through a playoff run attempt. Gosh Denver, you couldn't wait a week to release Kyle Orton? Once again annoying. Speaking of injuries and Orton, the Chiefs gave the Steelers a pretty good game Sunday night, but the Steel Curtain held on. Here's a recap of all of Sunday's action. The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

Bills 24, Jets 28

In a game that featured two teams that were just not playing well, both clubs absolutely wanted this one. The Bills kept taking it to the Jets, and the Jets kept fighting back. Mark Sanchez made a lot mistakes in the first half, but had an excellent second half and threw all four of the Jets touchdowns, including 2 to Dustin Keller and the game winner to the always clutch Santonio Holmes with 1:01 left in the game. The Jets move to 6-5 and remain one game back of the Cincinnati Bengals for the final AFC wild card spot. The Bills are 5-6 and face a difficult uphill climb. Ryan Fitzpatrick led the Bills with 264 yards passing and three touchdowns.

Buccaneers 17, Titans 23

Tennessee came storming back from a 17-10 deficit by posting a 13-0 4th quarter shutout of Tampa Bay, improving to 6-5 and remaining in the crowded race for the final AFC playoff berth. Chris Johnson helped out by rushing for 190 yards.The Bucs are now 4-7 and can pretty much forget about it. With both the Texans starting and back up quarterbacks now out for the season, you never know if the Titans can steal the AFC South from under Houston's nose. The two still meet once more this season.

Cardinals 23, Rams 20

passing game continues to look atrocious for Arizona, good thing Patrick Peterson continues to score on punt returns and Beenie Well busted out a 228 yard performance against the pitiful defense of the Rams. It also seems like Sam Bradford to Brandon Lloyd is about the only option the Rams have offensively. Always good competition when teams on the same level of weakness get together.

Browns 20, Bengals 23

Cleveland gave a good effort and almost stole on from the Bengals, but Andy Dalton and Cedric Benson led the way to victory for Cincy. The Bengals offense has shown it can be good enough to support this defense, and if this type of play continues mixed in with a win against either Pittsburgh or Baltimore(or both) their should be no reason why they don't hold their playoff position.

Redskins 23, Seahawks 17

After watching their season implode, the Redskins got their first win in 7 weeks with a hard fought comeback against the Seahawks in Seattle, now that's impressive there. Now that they are pretty much out of the playoff race maybe they can just focus on getting some wins on the board. Poor Seattle lost the momentum they have been building in recent weeks.

Bears 20, Raiders 25

Caleb Hanie threw and ran his heart out. Caleb Hanie did his absolute best to help the Bears win this football game. Caleb Hanie made a lot of rookie mistakes. Those mistakes cost the Chicago an opportunity to down the Oakland Raiders. No need to fret if you're a Bears fan, it could have been worse. Sure Chicago's five game winning streak is snapped, but you went on the road to face a playoff team with a kid that made his first start and threw three interceptions, and you only lost by five on a drive where you had a chance to win, well until Hanie threw the only intentional grounding spike I've ever seen for a ten second run off and the Raider win. But the kid has heart, and I would continue to start him over Josh Mccown. He stepped in and gave it a go against the eventual champions in last season's NFC title game, the guy doesn't back down. That is the kind of person you want on your team, he will only improve with time and I still feel the Bears will secure a playoff berth. Their defense is too good. For all the great field position Oakland saw all day they managed only one touchdown to go with 6 field goals. The defense was holding up. If they can just get to the postseason, Cutler will be back and Chicago will be dangerous once again. They still can be right now in my opinion.

Steelers 13, Chiefs 9

Pittsburgh was held scoreless in the second half, but it wasn't enough for the Chiefs to get the win. Good effort by Kansas City but they now fall to 4-7 while the Steelers sit at 8-3 as first place in the AFC remains a four way tie full of teams that have been beating up on each other all season. The smoke is nowhere near clear in the conference.

Vikings 14, Falcons 24

Minnesota was on the road without Adrian Peterson, no one is surprised by this result. Matt Ryan threw three touchdown passes and the Falcons roll.

Panthers 27, Colts 19

These teams don't look very good, but at least the Panthers have a future with Cam Newton to look forward to and the Colts are almost certain to get the first pick in the draft. 0-16 is looking more realistic every week.

Texans 20, Jaguars 13

Houston controlled the game throughout, but the real ugly thing wasn't the game itself, it's the fact that Houston, now a serious playoff contender, has lost yet another solid quarterback for the season. I actually saw promise in Matt Leinart, now I don't know what to think of Houston. It may be a bumpy road ahead.

Patriots 38, Eagles 20

It looks like Philadelphia used all their energy in New York last week. The Patriots absolutely sm,acked them around, and now we can finally just about call it a day in Philly. See you next year.

Broncos 16, Chargers 13 OT

Tim Tebow and the running Broncos did it again, and Philup Rivers and the Chargers, well they did it again. Tim Tebow ran for 67 yards, continued to protect the football, impressively put up a rating over 100, and worked with Willis McGahee to run the Broncos into position for the game winning field goal with under one minute to play in overtime. San Diego once agin failed to finish. In what would have seemed ridiculous at the seasons beginning, the Broncos are now 6-5, on a 4 game winning streak, and are just one game out of playoff position. The Chargers fall to 4-7, are now on a 6 game losing streak, and seem all but done in the AFC West.

New York Giants (6-4) at New Orleans Saints (7-3) 8:30 PM ET 5:30 PT ESPN

Manning vs. Brees with a third place tie in the NFC on the line and a chance to come one step closer to the 49ers and that first round bye. Who wants it?