NFL Week 13 top plays: Steelers, Seahawks, Lions win thrillers; Chiefs thump Broncos

The NFL regular season is entering the home stretch, but it's never too late for your first victory of the year.

That's how the Detroit Lions are feeling after they clawed out a win on the final play of their game against the Minnesota Vikings.

Elsewhere, the Pittsburgh Steelers outlasted the Baltimore Ravens, and the Seattle Seahawks rallied to stun the San Francisco 49ers in a pair of wild contests, while the Kansas City Chiefs topped the Denver Broncos.

Here are the top moments from Week 13's action-packed slate.

Kansas City Chiefs 22, Denver Broncos 9

X-factor

The Broncos elected to receive after winning the toss to keep the ball out of Patrick Mahomes' hands, but the Chiefs had other plans. After Denver went three-and-out on its opening drive, Mahomes punched it in on a 10-yard scamper for a 7-0 lead. After trading field goals, the Chiefs led 10-3 early in the second quarter. 

One-score game

The Broncos nearly came up with what could have been a game-changing turnover when Travis Kelce appeared to fumble the ball on K.C.'s 37-yard line. But it was deemed an incomplete pass, and after Denver's challenge was denied, it remained a seven-point game at the break. 

Pat picks Pat

On the opening drive of the second half, Broncos CB Patrick Surtain II snagged his fourth interception of the season when he picked off Mahomes, whose INT tally is now up to 12 (matching his career-high from 2018). Three of those — including tonight's — were passes dropped by Tyreek Hill, the most by any receiver.

On the move!

Darrel Williams came up big for the Chiefs on this catch and run, which set up a quick field goal for K.C.

With momentum on their side, the Chiefs came up with another huge play on the other side of the ball:

Misfortune strikes Denver

Kansas City wasn't able to capitalize on the turnover and was forced to punt, but Broncos WR Diontae Spencer muffed the catch, and the Chiefs recovered it to get the ball right back deep in Denver's territory. 

Showtime!

The Chiefs took a 22-3 lead when Daniel Sorensen picked off Bridgewater and took it 75 yards to the house.

For good measure

Javonte Williams punched one in for Denver in the fourth on a quick catch and run, but it was too little too late, and things ended there, 22-9.

Pittsburgh Steelers 20, Baltimore Ravens 19

Going the length of the field

The Ravens took a 7-3 lead at the half, thanks to this all-out effort from Devonta Freeman.

Going Deep

The Steelers made it a one-point game when Diontae Johnson hauled in this pass from Ben Roethlisberger. Pittsburgh was an extra point away from tying the Ravens in the fourth quarter, but the kick was no good.

Steelers pull in front

The Ravens made up for the blown coverage when Justin Tucker nailed a 28-yarder to push the lead back to 13-9, but it was short lived, as the Steelers once again pulled within one point midway through the fourth.

Then, Big Ben connected with Johnson, good for a TD and a two-point conversion that made it 20-13 with less than two minutes to play.

What could have been …

The Ravens were explosive on their final drive, capping off an eight-play, 60-yard march with a Sammy Watkins TD. 

Gamble comes up empty

Down by one, Baltimore opted to go for two, but Mark Andrews bobbled Lamar Jackson's pass on the two-point conversion attempt, and things ended there.

Seattle Seahawks 30, San Francisco 49ers 23

A little trickery

The Seahawks had some tricks up their sleeves early, pulling off a 73-yard fake punt TD on their first possession.

San Fran surge

After a costly Seahawks fumble, the 49ers knotted things up on this 24-yard TD from George Kittle. Then, Elijah Mitchell came up with the 49ers' second score of the first to take a 14-7 lead.

Seattle steps up

San Francisco's defense continued to bring the heat, but the Seahawks managed to climb within three points midway through the second when Adrian Peterson found the end zone on this short scamper.

Double trouble!

Ahead of the break, Kittle somehow kept his balance and tip-toed the sideline for a remarkable 48-yard TD.

Seattle closed the gap before the half, as rookie Dee Eskridge found the end zone to make it a two-point game.

A wild turn of events

What was nearly a go-ahead TD for Seattle turned into a goal-line INT. But misfortune struck the 49ers shortly after, as Jimmy Garoppolo was sacked for a safety to tie things up at 23 in the third.

Drop in the bucket

Russell Wilson dropped this one right into Tyler Lockett’s basket, as the Seahawks took a 30-23 lead, which would hold when the Niners' long drive in the final minutes came up just short.

Los Angeles Rams 37, Jacksonville Jaguars 7

Rams handle first half

It was all L.A. to open the scoring, as the Rams punched in a field goal early before RB Sony Michel powered through the Jaguars' defense for the Rams' first TD. 

Jacksonville's Carlos Hyde scored for the Jags in the second to keep things close at the break, 16-7.

All gas, no brakes

The Rams came out hot in the second half. Matthew Stafford found his favorite receiver, Cooper Kupp, on two monster plays as L.A. used its first drive of the third quarter to take a 16-point lead.

On the Rams' ensuing drive, Stafford hit Van Jefferson in the back of the end zone to break things open.

Jump ball!

OBJ dazzled as he launched into the air and came down with another Rams TD, good for a 30-point lead.

Washington Football Team 17, Las Vegas Raiders 15

One-handed wonder

Logan Thomas kicked things off for Washington, as he miraculously snagged this pass from Taylor Heinicke.

Feed AG

Antonio Gibson reeled in this short pass from Heinicke as WFT jumped out to a 14-6 lead in the fourth.

Down to the wire

But the Raiders weren't going down without a fight. Josh Jacobs bounced into the end zone to make it a two-point game. Then, Daniel Carlson nailed a 37-yard field goal to give Las Vegas a 15-14 lead late in the fourth. 

It all came down to the final minute. The Raiders were this close to taking home the W, but Washington just barely squeezed in this field goal to close things out — after Derek Carr's Hail Mary attempt was no good. 

Tampa Bay Buccaneers 30, Atlanta Falcons 17

Still hot

After a four-TD performance a week ago, Bucs running back Leonard Fournette picked up where he left off, scoring Tampa Bay's opening touchdown on a pass from Tom Brady.

Big-man pick-six!

Brady had a blunder just before halftime, throwing a pick-six to Falcons defensive end Marlon Davidson, allowing Atlanta to cut the score to 20-17.

Spike it home

Rob Gronkowski made it two touchdowns for the game with this grab in the third quarter, finishing it off with his trademark spike in the end zone.

Arizona Cardinals 33, Chicago Bears 22 

What rust?

Out of action for several weeks due to injuries, Arizona's dynamic duo of QB Kyler Murray and WR DeAndre Hopkins announced their return to action in a big way.

Later in the first quarter, Murray showed his elusiveness is just fine, too, with a scramble for Arizona's second touchdown.

Gotta hand it to him

James Conner delivered a catch and touchdown for the highlight reel with this one-handed grab.

It's tricky

The Bears went deep into the playbook to pull off this 34-yard completion.

Later in the drive, Andy Dalton hit Jimmy Graham for a touchdown to cap the possession.

Miami Dolphins 20, New York Giants 9 

Up for it

Dolphins cornerback Xavien Howard slammed the door on New York's second drive of the game, picking off Daniel Jones near the end zone.

Corner pocket

Tua Tagovailoa threw a dart to Isaiah Ford for the QB's second touchdown pass against the Giants, helping Miami pull away in the fourth.

Los Angeles Chargers 41, Cincinnati Bengals 22 

Hot potato

Chargers CB Michael Davis won't soon forget this interception. Bengals wideout Ja'Marr Chase had the defender beat but bobbled the ball as it arrived.

Davis stuck with the play and was on the spot for a circus-like takeaway.

Feelin' it

Keenan Allen sure came to play for the Chargers.

Justin Herbert connected with the veteran wideout twice in the first quarter for touchdowns, helping the Bolts run out to an early lead against Cincinnati.

Something special

It turns out Herbert can catch the ball, too. He was on the receiving end of a pass to complete a two-point conversion in the second quarter.

An extra scoop

After giving up 22 unanswered points to let the Bengals back into the game, the Chargers' defense came up with a critical turnover and touchdown early in the fourth quarter to take a 31-22 lead.

Take your pick 

If Davis' interception wasn't entertaining enough for you, perhaps Bengals CB Chidobe Awuzie's effort will fit the bill.

Indianapolis Colts 31, Houston Texans 0

10 out of 10

Can anyone stop Jonathan Taylor? Is it wise to even try?

The Colts' running back made it 10 straight games with a rushing TD on Indy's first drive against the Texans.

To nobody's surprise, Taylor rumbled in for his second of the day in the third quarter as the Colts smashed the Texans, who are the first team to be officially eliminated from playoff contention this season.

Detroit Lions 29, Minnesota Vikings 27

Force the issue

The hosts broke through early in the second quarter as Jared Goff hit tight end T.J. Hockenson to give the Lions a 7-6 advantage.

Sinking feeling

As the NFC North foes battled back and forth, the Lions seemed poised to snag their elusive first victory of the season. 

However, Detroit rolled the dice on a fourth-down attempt that went awry. Rather than converting on fourth-and-1, Goff was strip-sacked by Minnesota's defense.

Gifted a short field, Kirk Cousins tossed a TD pass to Justin Jefferson to give Minnesota a 27-23 lead with less than two minutes remaining. 

Coming up clutch

But Goff and the Lions weren't done!

Staring at defeat on another fourth down, Goff hit Amon-Ra St. Brown for the game-deciding touchdown as time expired to give Detroit (1-10-1) the long-awaited win.

Philadelphia Eagles 33, New York Jets 18

Rookie to rookie

The second overall pick in the 2021 draft connected with the 34th overall pick, as Jets rookie QB Zach Wilson found wideout Elijah Moore for the game's opening touchdown.

That was Wilson's first first-half TD pass of his young career, set up by a critical 79-yard kickoff return by Braxton Berrios. The Jets would miss the PAT, though, settling for an early 6-0 lead.

Quick response

Filling in for the injured Jalen Hurts, Eagles backup QB Gardner Minshew got the Eagles back in business with their opening drive.

Minshew connected with tight end Dallas Goedert three times on the drive for 62 yards, which was capped by this 36-yard effort.

Back and forth

After the Jets made it 12-7, the Eagles responded to make it 14-12. Then, Wilson & Co. answered right back.

With newly signed kicker Alex Kessman 0-for-2 on extra-point attempts, Jets coach Robert Saleh went for it on fourth-and-goal and his offense delivered.

Saleh kept Kessman on the sideline and went for a two-point conversion, but the Jets came up empty on that front.