LAS VEGAS (AP) — Patrick Mahomes threw five touchdown passes and returned to his usual form after a surprisingly shaky stretch this season, and the Kansas City Chiefs moved into first place in the AFC West with a 41-14 victory over the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday night.
Mahomes and the Chiefs (6-4) showed little resemblance to the team that overpowered the AFC the past three seasons over the first nine weeks, raising questions about whether they could make it back to a third straight Super Bowl.
But they used a dominant performance over the Raiders (5-4) on a day everyone else in the division lost to return to the top of the standings.
Mahomes completed three short TD passes before flashing his playmaking brilliance early in the fourth quarter after Kansas City converted a fake punt on a 16-yard pass from Tommy Townsend to Marcus Kemp.
Two plays later, Mahomes scrambled away from pressure and just before crossing the line of scrimmage lofted a deep pass across his body that Darrel Williams caught for a 38-yard TD that made it 34-14.
Mahomes finished 35 for 50 for 406 yards.
The Raiders have dropped back-to-back games after a promising start to the season as poor execution and off-field issues have done them in.
GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Aaron Rodgers was uneven in his return from COVID-19 but did more than enough to support a standout Green Bay Packers defense in a 17-0 victory over the Seattle Seahawks.
A.J. Dillon rushed for two fourth-quarter touchdowns for the Packers, who handed the Seahawks their first shutout loss in a decade.
Rodgers went 23 of 37 for 292 yards and threw an interception in the end zone in the third quarter.
Seattle’s Russell Wilson also struggled in his return after missing three games with an injury to the middle finger on his throwing hand. He went 20 of 40 for 161 yards with two interceptions. The Seahawks wasted two scoring opportunities when Kevin King and Adrian Amos picked off Wilson passes in the end zone.
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Playing without star quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who entered the COVID-19 protocol on Saturday night, the Steelers slogged their way to a 16-16 tie with the Detroit Lions on Sunday in an ugly nearly four-hour marathon that produced more comedy than highlights.
Mason Rudolph completed 30 of 50 passes for 242 yards with a touchdown and an interception, but struggled with consistency while making a spot start. Najee Harris ran for 105 yards and at times appeared to be Pittsburgh’s only legitimate offensive weapon as the Steelers (5-3-1) saw their four-game winning streak halted in the dank mist at rainy Heinz Field.
De’Andre Swift ran for a career-high 130 yards for the Lions (0-8-1), who relied heavily on the run to avoid a ninth straight loss with quarterback Jared Goff rendered almost completely ineffective. Goff connected on 14 of 25 passes for just 114 yards as the NFL saw its first tie since Cincinnati and Philadelphia played to a draw after 70 minutes on Sept. 27, 2020.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
NEW YORK (AP) — Alabama jumped Cincinnati to No. 2 behind Georgia in The Associated Press college football poll on Sunday and Oklahoma dropped eight spots to No. 12 after losing for the first time this season.
Georgia is a unanimous No. 1 in the AP Top 25 presented by Regions Bank for the sixth consecutive week and the Southeastern Conference has the top two teams in the poll for the sixth time this season.
Alabama and Georgia were flip-flopped at Nos. 1 and 2 for five weeks in September and early October.
The switch from Cincinnati to Alabama at No. 2 was more about the Bearcats than the Crimson Tide, which closed the gap on UC to four points last week.
Alabama took care of business against overmatched New Mexico State on Saturday. No surprise there.
Cincinnati remained unbeaten after winning at South Florida 45-28 on Friday night. It was the fourth straight week the Bearcats played a team with a losing record and found themselves in a competitive game in the second half. That tipped a few more voters to drop Cincinnati.
COLLEGE
BASKETBALL
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Drew Timme scored a career-high 37 points as top-ranked Gonzaga beat No. 5 Texas 86-74 on Saturday night in an early-season showdown.
Gonzaga coach Mark Few returned to the sidelines after serving a three-game suspension for a DUI, sitting out two exhibition games and the season-opening win over Dixie State.
Rasir Bolton added 16 points for Gonzaga (2-0), which won a school-record 53rd consecutive home game. The Bulldogs’ last home loss was in 2018.
Timmy Allen scored 18 points for Texas (1-1), which was trying to beat a top-ranked team for the first time in program history. Instead, the Longhorns fell to 0-12 against No. 1 teams.
Timme made 15 of 19 shots from the floor to exceed his previous high of 30 points, and added seven rebounds. Anton Watson had 10 points for Gonzaga.
NBA
LOS ANGELES (AP) — DeMar DeRozan scored 33 points and Zach LaVine added 29 to help the Chicago Bulls beat the Los Angeles Clippers 100-90 on Sunday night, ending the Clippers’ seven-game winning streak.
Lonzo Ball had 10 points for the Bulls, who used generous amounts of Los Angeles-area talent to earn the victory. DeRozan is a LA native who went to USC, while LaVine and Ball attended UCLA.
Paul George scored 27 points and had 11 rebounds for the Clippers, while Eric Bledsoe added 21 points. Los Angeles lost for the first time since Oct. 29 at Portland.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Terry Rozier sought out Charlotte Hornets teammate Mason Plumlee, the team’s 7-foot center, after the game Sunday night game and joked with him that he plans to handle all jump balls going forwar
Rozier outleaped Draymond Green on a late jump ball and also made two key free throws to help the Hornets snap the Golden State Warriors’ winning streak at seven, 106-102 on Sunday night.
Rozier finished with 20 points — all in the second half — Miles Bridges had 22, LaMelo Ball added 21, and Cody Martin had 12 points and eight rebounds. The Hornets improved to 8-7, winning three straight after a five-game skid.
GOLF
PHOENIX (AP) — Phil Mickelson birdied three of the final holes Sunday to win the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship, and Bernhard Langer held on to win his sixth PGA Tour Champions season points title.
Mickelson shot a 6-under 65 at Phoenix Country Club, getting up-and-down from short of the par-5 18th for birdie to reach 19 under. He joined Jack Nicklaus as the only player to win four of his first six PGA Tour Champions starts.
Langer, who battled back pain all weekend, struggled getting putts to fall as he labored through a 2-under 69. The 64-year-old German finished at 12 under and had to wait for Jim Furyk to see if he would win the Schwab Cup for the fifth time in seven years.
Furyk needed to win the tournament or tie for third and have Langer end up worse than eighth to win his first PGA Tour Champions series title.
He dropped in a long birdie putt on the par-4 17th to pull within two of the lead, but Mickelson’s birdie on No. 18 made it three shots.
