ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- For a 49ers team that didn't have much to play for, linebacker Patrick Willis and a suddenly sturdy San Francisco defense certainly did their job as spoilers.
Willis had 14 tackles and a forced fumble in a 10-3 win over Buffalo on Sunday that all but ended the Bills' dwindling playoff hopes. The 49ers' win also prevented the Arizona Cardinals from clinching the NFC West and their first playoff berth in 10 years - the longest active playoff drought in the NFL.
Isaac Bruce scored on a 12-yard touchdown pass - the 90th of his career - and Joe Nedney hit a 50-yard field goal as the 49ers never trailed. San Francisco (4-8) won for the second time in three games and second time for interim coach Mike Singletary.
The Bills (6-6) lost for the fifth time in six games and looked nothing like a team coming off a 54-31 win at Kansas City, or the team that got off to a 4-0 start.
Buffalo came away with no points on four trips inside the red zone, and also got nothing on two extended drives of 15 plays or longer.
The first drive, an 18-play, 85-yarder, ended when Rian Lindell banked a 20-yard field goal attempt off the left upright. The second, a 15-play, 75-yarder, ended when backup quarterback J.P. Losman, pressured by end Ray McDonald, threw an incompletion on fourth-and-2 from the 49ers 7 in the fourth quarter.
Lindell, who entered the game having hit 53 consecutive attempts from inside the 40, also missed a 40-yard attempt, which he banked off the left upright. Full story
Chiefs 20, Raiders 13
OAKLAND, Calif. -- Tyler Thigpen put together one effective drive for Kansas City to beat the Oakland Raiders in a matchup between two of the NFL's worst teams.
Thigpen engineered a 91-yard drive that was capped by Larry Johnson's 2-yard tiebreaking touchdown run early in the fourth quarter to lead the Chiefs to a victory. They snapped a seven-game losing streak and won for just the second time in their last 21 games.
Kansas City (2-10) scored its first touchdown on Maurice Leggett's 67-yard fumble return on a botched fake field goal by Oakland (3-9).
With the Chiefs locked in a 10-all tie and backed up to their own 9 following a punt, Thigpen got the offense moving to earn his first win in seven career NFL starts. He got Kansas City started with a 23-yard pass to Tony Gonzalez and hit the tight end twice more for 28 yards on the drive.
Dolphins 16, Rams 12
ST. LOUIS -- The Miami Dolphins kept the St. Louis Rams out of the end zone, even with Steven Jackson back in the lineup.
The Dolphins (7-5) made it only once themselves in a victory. Instead, they relied on stingy play from a defense that got routed last week by the Patriots to secure their fifth victory in six games.
Miami and St. Louis had the top two picks of the draft and the Rams (2-10) are likely to get another real early pick next April after losing their sixth in a row. They ended a string of blowout losses the previous four games behind Jackson, who had 94 yards on 21 carries, but were undone by mistakes in the second half against a franchise that's quickly become competitive after going 1-15 last season.
Marc Bulger, sidelined by a concussion last week against the Bears, threw three interceptions in the second half - the clincher by Andre' Goodman at the Dolphins 5 with 35 seconds to go. Renaldo Hill's second pick of the season, and second in two games, set up Dan Carpenter's third field goal for the final score with 6:39 to go.
