Josh Jacobs ran for a go-ahead, 1-yard touchdown with 1:50 remaining, Micah Parsons had a career-high three sacks and the Green Bay Packers rallied from an early 10-point deficit to beat the Arizona Cardinals 27-23 on Sunday.
Green Bay (4-1-1) fought through a sluggish first half to win its first road game of the season. The Packers had their share of adversity this weekend — the team’s travel was reportedly delayed roughly five hours on Saturday because of mechanical issues with their airplane in Wisconsin.
Arizona (2-5) had a chance to win the game on its final offensive drive but Jacoby Brissett’s fourth-down pass was batted away in the end zone with 6 seconds left. Brissett — filling in for the injured Kyler Murray — threw for 279 yards and two touchdowns.
The Cardinals have lost five straight games by a combined 13 points. They’re just the third NFL team to lose by four points or less in five straight, joining the 2017 San Francisco 49ers and 1984 Cleveland Browns.
Jacobs was a game-time decision because of an illness and calf injury, but produced his third straight two-touchdown game. He finished with 55 yards rushing and also ran for a 7-yard touchdown in the third quarter.
Green Bay’s Jordan Love completed 19 of 29 passes for 179 yards and a touchdown.
Parsons finished with three sacks, four tackles for loss and five quarterback hurries, making life difficult for Brissett all afternoon.
The Cardinals had the ball and a 23-20 lead with 5:58 left but Brissett was stopped short of a first down on a fourth-and-1 quarterback sneak. That gave the ball to the Packers at the Arizona 48.
Green Bay methodically moved downfield — converting a fourth-and-2 pass to Tucker Craft — before Jacobs fought for the 1-yard touchdown on the 10th play of the drive and a 27-23 lead.
Cardinals tight end Trey McBride caught two touchdown passes, including a 12-yard score with 4:17 left in the third quarter for a 20-13 lead.
McBride’s also caught a 15-yard touchdown with 7 seconds remaining in the first half, giving the Cardinals a 13-3 lead. The Packers managed to make it a one-score game by halftime when Lucas Havrisik booted a franchise-record, 61-yard field goal as time expired, cutting the margin to 13-6.
Havrisik was signed on Oct. 11 to fill in for Brandon McManus, who is dealing with a quadriceps injury.
The Cardinals took a 3-0 lead on the opening drive after Chad Ryland’s 32-yard field goal. It was the first time Green Bay had given up points in the first quarter all season.
— David Brandt in Glendale, Ariz.
Philadelphia Eagles 28, Minnesota Vikings 22
Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts tries to avoid a tackle from Minnesota Vikings linebacker Eric Wilson during the first half on Sunday, Oct. 19, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
Though many of the elements that made the Philadelphia Eagles champions last season had been missing during this unsettling start, their confidence in themselves never lacked.
Even the external doubts had a rough day, with Jalen Hurts flashing his Super Bowl MVP form.
Hurts gave his lagging offense a jolt by throwing for 326 yards and three touchdowns, Jalyx Hunt returned an interception for a score, and the Eagles rebounded from back-to-back losses by hanging on to beat the Minnesota Vikings 28-22 on Sunday.
“It’s not a time to wish or hope for something to happen,” said Hurts, who went 19 for 23 for a perfect passer rating. “It’s a time to make it happen.”
Hurts sparked a highlight-reel revival of what had been a dormant passing attack for the Eagles (5-2), hitting A.J. Brown for two touchdowns and DeVonta Smith for a career-high 183 receiving yards that included a 79-yard score.
“It was only a matter of time,” Smith said. “There’s still some things we can grow in certain areas, still some things that we left out there.”
Facing third-and-9 from their 44 with 1:45 left and the Vikings (3-3) still holding two timeouts, Hurts dropped back and dropped a 45-yard rainbow into Brown’s arms to seal it after he beat former teammate Isaiah Rodgers with a slick double move up the sideline. Rodgers, in his first season with the Vikings, also got beat on Smith’s touchdown.
“You don’t have a game like that without the guys around,” Hurts said. “I give a lot of credit to the collective of everyone hanging in there.”
Carson Wentz went 26 for 42 for 313 yards on an erratic afternoon, getting picked off twice in his own territory and struggling on the other end while the Vikings had to settle for Will Reichard’s field goals on five of six possessions inside the 20.
Hunt gave the Eagles a 14-3 lead early in the second quarter by sitting in his zone and reading the hurried throw toward star Justin Jefferson, as Jalen Carter hit Wentz hard.
“Don’t throw it right to his chest. That would be great,” Wentz said. “But I think they had a good call. I’ve got to be better and just progress or quite frankly take the sack there.”
Wentz said during the week he’s too far removed from his time with Philadelphia to carry a grudge into this game, having made Minnesota his sixth stop in six seasons, but he didn’t give his original team his best performance — particularly in the red zone.
Backup center Blake Brandel struggled badly there, too. He had an errant third-down shotgun snap that sailed over Wentz’s head and cost the Vikings 22 yards in the first quarter and was run over by Moro Ojomo for a third-down sack in the fourth quarter from the 10.
— Dave Campbell in Minneapolis
Detroit Lions meet Tampa Bay Buccaneers in “Monday Night Football”
Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff runs into the end zone over Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Trent McDuffie on a play that was nullified after Goff was called for illegal motion on the play during the first half on Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Jared Goff and Baker Mayfield were picked No. 1 overall in the NFL draft two years apart, had postseason success with their teams, got traded and revived their careers in new cities.
They’ve become the standard for castoff quarterbacks.
Goff and Mayfield go head-to-head Monday night when the Detroit Lions (4-2) host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (5-1) in a potential preview of the NFC championship game.
There’s a lot of mutual respect between the two quarterbacks.
“I love Jared, great guy,” Mayfield said. “From somebody that can relate to needing a fresh start somewhere else, it is good to see that story. Everybody loves a good underdog story or whatever it is, go through adversity, come out the other side stronger. That is life and that is what football can teach you.”
Said Goff: “I’m a big fan of his and he’s done a great job.”
Goff led the Los Angeles Rams to a Super Bowl in the 2018 season — they lost to Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. He made two Pro Bowls in his five seasons with the Rams but was traded to the Lions in a deal for Matthew Stafford in 2021. While Stafford led Los Angeles to a Super Bowl victory in his first season, Goff was supposed to be just a stopgap solution in Detroit.
Instead, he turned into the nucleus of a dynamic offense on a championship contender. Goff has made two Pro Bowls with the Lions and is off to another excellent start. He has completed 75.9% of his passes for 1,390 yards, 14 touchdowns and two interceptions.
“That guy’s operating at a high level, the highest in the league in my opinion,” Lions offensive coordinator John Morton said. “I’m very fortunate as a coordinator to have him on the other side of the ball as the quarterback.”
Mayfield led the Cleveland Browns to a playoff win at Pittsburgh in his third season in 2020 — the franchise’s only postseason victory this century. But he was traded to Carolina in 2022 after the Browns made a blockbuster deal to acquire Deshaun Watson that ended up disastrous for the organization.
Mayfield started just six games for the Panthers, was released, joined the Rams and led them to a victory in a Thursday night game only three days after his arrival. His brief tenure with Sean McVay in Los Angeles restarted his career.
After Brady retired, the Buccaneers signed Mayfield as a low-risk, high-reward option in 2023. He wasn’t even guaranteed a starting job and had to beat out Kyle Trask in training camp. Mayfield played so well that first-year offensive coordinator Dave Canales was hired to coach Carolina.
Mayfield was even better last year, making the Pro Bowl for the second straight year and helping lead the Buccaneers to their fourth straight NFC South title. He also helped first-year OC Liam Coen earn the head coaching job in Jacksonville.
This season, Mayfield is an early favorite for NFL MVP. He has completed 66.2% of his passes for 1,539 yards, 12 TDs and one interception while playing behind an injury-riddled offensive line and with a depleted wide receiver group. Mayfield has also run for 158 yards and 11 first downs, displaying some impressive scrambling ability along the way.
“To me, they’re both really tough, dependable, resilient guys,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said of Goff and Mayfield. “I think both of them have overcome a lot. I think when you watch those guys and just the nature of the way they play — like our quarterback will sit in there. … he’s getting crunched in the pocket and has to deliver the ball. He’s not afraid of that. They both deliver in critical moments, they don’t get frazzled. I just think there’s those elements to it.
“And of course, Baker has got the ability to run a little bit more. And that shows up because he’s hard to take down. He’ll slip under you, he can stay alive — you saw what he did the other day, he broke a bunch of tackles, found a way to get that first down, third-and-14. I mean that’s kind of his game too. So, just competitive, and that’s what they have in common. Guys are competitive.”
They’ll compete in the fourth matchup between these two teams in the past three seasons. The Lions won 20-6 in Tampa Bay in Oct. 2023 and beat the Buccaneers at home 31-23 in a divisional playoff that season. The Buccaneers defeated Detroit 20-16 last September in one of the Lions’ only two losses.
— Rob Maaddi in Tampa, Fla.
Originally Published: October 19, 2025 at 6:56 PM CDT