AFC Games:
BALT over Jax, PITT over Cleve, DENV over K.City,
NFC Games:
TB over Dal, N.Orl over WASH
INTER-CONF Games:
PHIL over Mia, Car over TENN, N.Eng over NYG
PRIME TIME Games:
THUR NIGHT: NYJ over Buff
SUN NIGHT: SEAT over Ariz
MON NIGHT: CIN over Hou
NFC NORTH Games:
GB over Det, OAK over Minn, STL over Bears
HOME TEAMS in ALL CAPS
Last Week: Les 8-5, Producers(Tony)6-7
Total through week 9: Les 84-49, Producers 81-52

SAN DIEGO—Zach Miller leaped, snagged Jay Cutler’s pass with his right hand and tumbled into the end zone.A big-time play in another close finish for the Bears, who beat the staggering San Diego Chargers 22-19 on Monday night.

”Jay made a great throw and I was able to go up and get it. After that, I went unconscious,” Miller said about his game-winning catch with 3:19 left.It was one of those things where instincts kind of take over. I really didn’t have time to go up with two, because he put some juice on it. I went with one and thankfully pulled it down.”

Miller’s TD reception and a 2-point conversion run by rookie Jeremy Langford, subbing for the injured Matt Forte, gave the Bears (3-5) their first lead of the night. The Bears last five games have been decided by three points or less, including consecutive losses to Minnesota and Detroit before the trip to San Diego.Cutler, who had an interception returned for a touchdown and lost a fumble, kept attacking San Diego’s depleted secondary, completing 27 of 40 passes for 345 yards.

”We have got to figure out how to win in the fourth quarter,” Cutler said. ”We have talked about it. We’ve won games in the fourth quarter, we’ve lost in the fourth quarter. That’s what the NFL is about. You have to play your best in the fourth quarter, and that’s what coach (John) Fox has talked about. It’s good that it happened today, but we have to continue it.”

Cutler calmly led the Bears on the winning 10-play, 80-yard drive after the Chargers opened a 19-14 lead on rookie Josh Lambo’s 22-yard field goal. Two plays before the TD throw to Miller, Cutler was hit and still completed a 12-yard pass to Alshon Jeffery on third-and-6.

”The safety flew over the top and it was just a matter of waiting for Zach to get past the linebacker,” Cutler said. ”I left it high on him, and he made a heck of a catch. It couldn’t have happened to a better guy. For him to come up with a catch, it was something special.”

The Bears scored 15 points in the fourth quarter.Cutler’s two TD passes broke the franchise record, giving him 139 with the Bears. He had been tied with Hall of Famer Sid Luckman.San Diego (2-7) lost its fifth straight game for its longest skid since dropping six straight in 2011. It’s the longest losing streak in coach Mike McCoy’s three seasons.San Diego’s Philip Rivers was 26 of 42 for 280 yards. It was the first time in six games that he didn’t throw for more than 300.

”When you lose five in a row it’s pretty sickening,” Rivers said. ”When it’s like this you kind of want to dig a hole and hid for a little while.”

The Chargers made numerous mistakes.Rivers threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to Antonio Gates in the fourth quarter but it was nullified when right guard D.J. Fluker was whistled for being an ineligible receiver downfield. The Chargers had to settle for Lambo’s 22-yard field goal.Earlier in that drive, wide receiver Stevie Johnson spiked the ball after making a catch for a first down at the 4 and was whistled for delay of game.

”It’s all emotion. We’re out there playing hard and I was trying to get in the end zone,” Johnson said. ”I didn’t really spike it that hard but they called it and that is part of it. I’ve got to be smarter than that.”

The Bears had a rough first half, but the Chargers couldn’t put them away.Cutler lost a fumble on a sack and then made an off-the-mark throw to Jeffery, which second-year cornerback Jason Verrett intercepted and returned 68 yards for a 13-0 lead.The Chargers suffered even more injuries.Verrett hurt his groin one play after his pick-six and came out, but remained on the sideline. Cornerback Patrick Robinson left with a neck injury.Wide receiver Malcom Floyd, who is playing his last season, injured his left shoulder while diving trying to make a catch. Eight days earlier, San Diego’s Keenan Allen, one of the NFL’s leading receivers, suffered a season-ending lacerated kidney when he landed hard at the end of a spectacular touchdown catch in a loss at Baltimore.Cutler broke the franchise record for touchdown passes when he found Martellus Bennett for a 1-yard score midway through the second quarter.Cutler had been tied with Luckman with 137 with the Bears. Cutler began his career with the Broncos. Luckman threw his final touchdown pass as a member of the Bears on Sept. 17, 1950.Langford scored on a 1-yard run early in the fourth quarter to start the Bears comeback.

NOTES—The Bears are at St.Louis Sunday at noon….McCoy fell to 20-21 in three seasons. … Fox, who was McCoy’s boss at Carolina and Denver, improved to 5-1 against McCoy.

PHILADELPHIA—Nikola Mirotic had 20 points and 10 rebounds and Pau Gasol scored 16 points to lead the Bulls past Philadelphia, 111-88 on Monday night.The Bulls played without Joakim Noah and still cruised to a 15-point lead in the first quarter that they eventually stretched to 26. McDermott scored 18 points, Derrick Rose had 12 and the Bulls looked like title contenders against the woebegone Sixers.The Bulls might have had tougher competition in an intrasquad scrimmage.Philadelphia (0-7) has lost 17 straight games dating to March 27, 2015. That matches the fourth-longest mark in franchise history, and three of those lengthy losing streaks have come since the start of the 2013-14 season.The Sixers matched an NBA record with 26 straight losses from Jan. 31, 2014, to March 27, 2014, and also lost 17 straight from Oct. 29, 2014, to Dec. 1, 2014.With Brown hamstrung because of a talent-thin roster built by team president Sam Hinkie, the Sixers’ last win was March 25 against Denver.Led by Gasol and Rose, the Bulls went on a 22-4 run in the first quarter to race to a 15-point lead, only to lose it in the second quarter. The Bulls are the latest team to cruise to a big lead early, then appear to lose interest and cough it up, only to wake up and step on the gas and put away the game.Mirotic, starting for Noah, hit three 3s in the third.Chicagoan Jahlil Okafor continued to serve as a lone bright spot for the Sixers, shaking off a 2-for-10 start from the floor to finish 9 of 25 and have his first career double-double with 21 points and 15 rebounds. Without Noah around to help out Gasol, Okafor shot 6 of 9 in the third and scored 14 points.

NOTES—The Bulls have beat the 76ers seven straight times, including four straight on the road. … The Bulls hit double digits in turnovers and have had only one game this season in single digits. They had 17 games in single digits last season.

Patrick Kane has found red-hot chemistry with a pair of Russian linemates.Kane had a goal and three assists, rookie Artemi Panarin scored twice in the first period and Corey Crawford made 34 saves to lead the Blackhawks past the Edmonton Oilers 4-2 on Sunday night.Artem Anisimov added a power-play goal with 5.1 seconds left. The Blackhawks ended a two-game slide and won for just the second time in six games.Kane has clicked skating on right wing with Anisimov at center and Panarin on the left side. He extended his point streak to 10 games and has seven goals and 10 assists during the run – including the primary set-ups on his linemates’ three goals in this one.

”All three of us, the way we want to play is very similar,” Kane said. ”I think we do a good job of supporting the puck, hanging on to the puck, trying to make plays.”

Kane’s latest outburst came three days after an upstate New York prosecutor decided not to bring rape charges against him because of a lack of credible evidence following a three-month investigation.Kane started the season with Anisimov and Panarin, but coach Joel Quenneville juggled combinations as the defending Stanley Cup champions struggled with a depleted lineup and new faces.

”I think we went a little stale there before they broke us up, so it was nice to get back together there,” Kane said.

The 24-year-old Panarin also celebrated the line’s reunion.

”It definitely feels good,” he said through an interpreter. ”Maybe even better. Because I scored two goals.”

Crawford wasn’t beaten until Edmonton’s Jordan Eberle scored a power-play goal at 2:56 of the third period on the Oilers’ 29th shot. Andrej Sekera cut it to 3-2 with 1:51 left and Edmonton goalie Cam Talbot on the bench for an extra attacker.Talbot made 24 saves and the Oilers dropped their second straight without injured rookie Connor McDavid.Crawford rebounded with a stellar effort after allowing three goals on 13 shots and being pulled after one period in New Jersey on Friday night. The Devils badly outplayed the Blackhawks and beat them 4-2.

”(Sunday’s game) was a good one for me, to get back into it,” Crawford said. ”It was a big win for us.”

In this one, Crawford was at his best in the scoreless second period to preserve a 2-0 Hawk lead – even though the Oilers dominated and outshot the Blackhawks 22-6.

”We had a 2-nothing lead and it was all due to Crow,” Kane said. ”It was good to see him bounce back from last game and have a big period and a big game.”

Panarin opened the scoring 58 seconds in on a one-timer from the low edge of the left circle. After taking Kane’s diagonal cross-ice feed, Panarin’s shot glanced off the stick of Oilers defenseman Mark Fayne, struck Talbot’s right shoulder and slipped in on the short side.Panarin made it 2-0 with 2:25 left in the first, capping his rush down the ice with a shot from the slot that flipped over Talbot’s glove and into the upper-right corner of the net. The rookie fooled several Oilers as he danced through center ice, then cut to the middle of the Edmonton zone for his fourth goal in 15 games.Crawford had to be sharp in the second when the Oilers took charge. Edmonton had the first 14 shots in the period.

”It was a complete opposite of the first period,” Edmonton coach Todd McLellan said. ”It seems like with our team right now, we have to get the garbage out or fall behind and then play from there.”

Crawford kept the Oilers at bay through the frame, coming up with several tough saves. He made one save on a tip attempt and rebound by Teddy Purcell, another against Anton Lander, a point-blank right pad save on Eberle and a block on Leon Draisaitl’s breakaway.Eberle cut it to 2-1 early in the third when he whipped in a rebound from the left of the net. Crawford had made a pad save on Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’ initial drive from the top of the right circle.It was Eberle’s first goal this season after he missed the first 13 games with a shoulder injury.Kane made it 3-1 with his 10th goal, on a backhander from the slot with 6:32 left in the third period.

NOTES—Blackhawks D and two-time Norris Trophy winner Duncan Keith has resumed skating after undergoing knee surgery (right meniscus) on Oct. 20. … Marian Hossa returned on Sunday after missing three games with a lower-body injury. Hossa, 36, appeared in all of the Blackhawks regular-season and playoff games last season. … C Artem Anisimov was back in the lineup after leaving a 4-2 loss Friday night at New Jersey with a lower-body injury and recorded his 200th and 201st NHL points … McDavid, the No. 1 draft pick in 2015, suffered a broken collar bone in a win last Tuesday night against Philadelphia and could be out for up to three months. … A piece of sound-absorbing material fell onto the ice from the ceiling of the United Center during a stop in play in the third period. It caused no damage and was quickly carried off the rink

EVANSTON—Even though he had missed two field goals and an extra point, Northwestern kicker Jack Mitchell still had the confidence of coach Pat Fitzgerald.Mitchell justified that faith when it mattered the most.Mitchell’s 35-yard field goal with nine seconds left gave the Wildcats a 23-21 win Saturday over the Penn State Nittany Lions. Backup quarterback Zack Oliver passed for one touchdown and ran for another, and Justin Jackson rushed for a career-high 186 yards for Northwestern. ”I’ve got great confidence in Jack,” Fitzgerald said. ”I had full confidence he was going to make that kick. He’s pretty good.” Mitchell, who kicked a game-winner to beat Notre Dame last year, recovered from his earlier woes to give the Wildcats a dramatic victory after they had squandered a 20-7 halftime lead. ”I knew it was going to come down to me,” Mitchell said. Solomon Vault added a 96-yard kickoff return for a touchdown with 2:04 left in the first half for Northwestern, which is No. 21 in the College Football Playoff rankings and won its second straight after consecutive losses. For Vault, it was his second kickoff return for a score this season and the third of his career, both school records.Oliver replaced Clayton Thorson after Thorson was hit with 3:09 left in the first quarter by Penn State’s Carl Nassib. Thorson completed a 13-yard pass to Christian Jones but suffered a lower-body injury on the play and didn’t return.Fitzgerald didn’t give an update on how Thorson was doing, quipping that his quarterback was feeling ”ecstatic” about the win.Nassib’s sack of Oliver with 14:50 left in the game gave him 15 1/2 this season to set a single-season Nittany Lions record. But that moment might have been costly for Penn State because Nassib wasn’t on the field for the Wildcats’ final drive. ”Obviously the guy’s leading the country in sacks,” Penn State coach James Franklin said. ”All-time sack leader in school history. Not having him out there is significant.” Northwestern (7-2, 3-2) had to win with Oliver, who had only appeared in three games before Saturday. He passed for 111 yards and threw an interception but led Northwestern’s key final drive.Saquon Barkley ran for 120 yards and had two scores, and the second with 12:22 left gave the Nittany Lions a 21-20 lead. They had a chance to take more time off the clock but Barkley was stopped short on a third and one at his own 15 with 2:25 to go, giving NU the ball back.Christian Hackenberg and the Nittany Lions offense struggled, which led to the end of their two-game winning streak. Hackenberg was under pressure for much of the day and went 21 of 40 for 205 yards with an interception. ”We were able to fight back, but at the end of the day they were better than us today,” Hackenberg said. ”You’ve got to give them a lot of credit.” Penn State (7-3, 4-2) pulled to within 20-14 with 5:04 left in the third when receiver Geno Lewis hit DaeSean Hamilton for a 32-yard score. The drive was aided by a pair of 15-yard penalties, including a roughing the kicker call on a punt against Warren Long that returned the ball to Penn State.Saturday began a tough stretch for Penn State. After playing Northwestern, the Nittany Lions have a bye and then wrap their season with a game at home against Michigan and then visit Michigan State. They didn’t start that stretch successfully. ”We weren’t able to play winning football at the end of the game,” Franklin said.

WEST LAFAYETTE—Illinois entered Saturday’s game at Purdue ranked last in the Big Ten in rushing, averaging 114.6 yards in all games and only 67.2 yards during its first four conference games.But the Illini solved that problem for at least one week, getting 16 carries for 180 rushing yards and two touchdowns from Ke’Shawn Vaughn, 12 carries for 133 from Josh Ferguson – in his first game back from injury – and a total of 382 yards on the ground Saturday in a dominating 48-14 victory against Purdue.Wes Lunt threw three first-half touchdown passes, and Illinois (5-4, 2-3) snapped a three-game losing streak.The Illini came into this game with 917 total rushing yards and only 269 in their first four conference games. But they were playing a Purdue team that ranked last in rushing defense, allowing 183 rushing yards a game. ”You can tell the difference in our offense when Fergie is in there,” Illinois coach Bill Cubit said of the back who had been sidelined with a shoulder injury. ”It’s a little bit different of an offense when he is in there. Ke’Shawn played really well, too. We also got some big plays from Wes in the passing game.Josh never exceeds my expectations. My expectations for him are pretty high. On third downs, he just makes things happen. Today just validates a lot of things we always talk about. You can be at the bottom of the barrel one minute, and at the top the next.” Ferguson said he and Vaughn finally had a game together in which each could excel. ”We were just waiting on Vaughn to fix a few things, and he is starting to learn how to run in the Big Ten,” Ferguson said. ”We’re very happy with what he has done. For me, I just wanted to get back out there today with my teammates. The offensive line played well, our quarterback play was awesome and we just executed well as a team.” Illinois, which had scored 33 total points in consecutive losses to Iowa, Wisconsin and Penn State, drove 76, 58 and 72 yards for touchdowns during the opening 30 minutes, running 44 plays for 295 yards and 17 first downs before halftime. The Illini finished with 595 yards total offense. ”This feels great,” Lunt said. ”Purdue had an extra guy in the box all day, and for Ferguson and Vaughn to find windows like that was impressive. Having a running game helps me out a ton. Being able to run on first and second downs and move the chains was huge for us.” Purdue (2-7, 1-4), which defeated Illinois last season in Champaign and beat Nebraska this past Saturday, gained only 25 yards in the first quarter on homecoming and finished the opening half with 39 plays for 105 yards. Purdue finished with only 263 total yards.

Andrew Wiggins scored 31 points, and the Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Bulls102-93 in overtime on Saturday night.Karl-Anthony Towns added 17 points, 13 rebounds and four blocked shots for Minnesota, which had lost two in a row. Fellow rookie Nemanja Bjelica also scored 17.The Timberwolves outscored the Bulls 9-0 in overtime. Towns’ layup made it 98-93 with 2:32 to go, and then the No. 1 overall draft pick set up Tayshaun Prince for a layup with 30 seconds to go.Pau Gasol had 21 points and 14 rebounds for the Bulls, who were coming off a 104-98 victory against Oklahoma City on Thursday night.

PITTSBURGH—DeShone Kizer threw for five touchdowns and ran for another as Notre Dame bolstered its CFP resume with a relatively easy 42-30 win over Pitt.Kizer completed 19 of 26 passes for 262 yards with no turnovers as the Irish (8-1) won their fourth straight. Will Fuller caught seven passes for 157 yards and three scores and Josh Adams ran for 147 yards and hauled in Kizer’s final touchdown pass while filling in after senior C.J. Prosise left in the first quarter with a neck/shoulder/head injury and did not return. ”Just another day at the office, honestly,” Fuller said. ”(Kizer) is going to throw the ball up there and I know it’ll hit my hands.” That’s pretty much all it takes for Fuller to wind up in the end zone. His three scores gave him 12 on the season and 28 for his career, second in school history Michael Floyd’s 37. ”On the sidelines he’s talking about `Get me the ball, I can score,”’ Kelly said. ”You can see the way he attacks the football out there and the way he runs, he’s a guy that you want to get it to.” Kizer certainly didn’t waste any time, finding Fuller for a 47-yard strike on the game’s third play. The two later hooked up for a 46-yard score late in the first half and a 14-yard touchdown in the third quarter to halt a surge by the Panthers (6-3).Notre Dame finished with 435 total yards even with Prosise sitting out the final 45 minutes after slamming into the ground following a 10-yard reception late in the first quarter. Kelly said his team’s leading rusher is ”day to day” and it’s too early to tell if Prosise will be ready next week when the Irish host Wake Forest.Considering the way Adams played, there’s no need for Prosise to hurry. The freshman averaged 7.3 yards per carry and earned the game ball on the same day his quarterback had a hand in all six scores.Nate Peterman passed for 223 yards with a touchdown and an interception for Pitt, which has lost two straight. Freshman Jordan Whitehead ran for two scores for the Panthers. Tyler Boyd caught three passes for 84 yards to set a school record for career yards receiving but Pitt was never within single digits after Torii Hunter Jr. put the Irish up 14-3 just over two minutes into the second quarter.

NEWARK—The surprising New Jersey Devils aren’t just winning games anymore. They have learned to how finish off struggling opponents, including the defending Stanley Cup champions.Travis Zajac capped a three-goal first period with a goal and an assist in a 26-second span, and the Devils embarrassed the Blackhawks 4-2 on Friday night.

”I think we are coming to expect that we want to beat every team,” goaltender Cory Schneider said after the Devils won for the seventh time in nine games. ”You can’t just feel good or get up for certain games. You have to get up for all of them and we are developing that mentality right now.”

The Blackhawks’ poor performance came a day after an upstate New York prosecutor decided not to bring rape charges against Patrick Kane because of a lack of credible evidence following a three-month investigation.Kane extended his goal-scoring streak to three games and his points streak to nine (6 goals, 7 assists) with a tally late in the second period that deflected off the back of Devils defenseman Damon Severson past Schneider.The Devils dominated in sending the Blackhawks to their second straight loss and ending a four-game losing streak against them.Lee Stempniak and Kyle Palmieri had a goal and an assist, Severson added two assists and Mike Cammalleri tallied a goal as New Jersey took a 4-0 lead in the opening 27:28. Niklas Hjalmarsson was on the ice for all four goals.Joel Quenneville pulled his goaltender with 6:41 to play and his team down three goals. It worked as Tanner Kero scored his first NHL goal with 1:26 left.

”You could tell prior to them scoring that we had holes everywhere,” Quenneville said. ”We were sleepy in the first period. Down 3-0 created a gigantic hole and we tried to get back into it.”

Stempniak jump-started the Devils early. He anticipated a cross-ice pass by Hjalmarsson, stole it in the right circle and skated in and beat Corey Crawford with his forehand 3:48 after the opening faceoff.

”We didn’t give ourselves a chance from the start,” Hjalmarsson said. ”A big mistake by me there. We have to start playing better.”

New Jersery blew things open late in the period. Zajac beat Andrew Shaw on a faceoff in the left circle and Palmieri stepped into the loose puck and ripped a shot past Crawford for his fourth goal at 17:48.Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews tried to wake up his team six seconds later getting into a fight at center ice with the Devils’ Adam Henrique. Toews seemingly won the fight with his height advantage, but New Jersey responded.Zajac took a pass from Severson between the circles and had his backhander blocked by Hjalmarsson. The puck came back to the Devils center and he beat Crawford for a 3-0 lead at 18:14.

”You have to put your foot down against a team like that,” said Schneider, who had 27 saves. ”You can’t get one and let them hang around. They are going to get theirs most nights. For us to have that killer mentality, and to keep the pressure on, I don’t know if they were prepared for that, but against good team you have to take advantage when you can.”

Crawford, who faced 13 shots, was replaced by Scott Darling at the start of the second period. That didn’t wake up Chicago, either. Cammalleri beat the backup goaltender with a shot from the left circle after taking a cross-ice pass from Severson.

NOTES—Devils coach John Hynes challenged the referees’ decision to wave off a second-period goal by Palmieri because Sergey Kalinin bumped Darling. The call stood. … Quenneville believes RW Marian Hossa will play Sunday against Edmonton. He missed his third straight with a lower-body injury. … Blackhawks D Michael Rozsival, who has not played this season because of an injury, is getting close to returning, Quenneville said. … Devils F Jiri Tlusty returned after missing two games with a shoulder injury. … The Hawks are 0-5 when giving up the first goal. … The Devils had their first sellout crowd in seven home games.

The Bulls let the lead slip away. Derrick Rose wouldn’t let the game get away, too.Rose came up big down the stretch to score 29 points and Jimmy Butler added 26 to lead the Bulls to a 104-98 victory over Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday night.Whether he can consistently play like a superstar still remains in question. But Rose sure looked like his old MVP self as he scored 10 points over the final 3 1-2 minutes to lift the Bulls after they blew a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter.

”For him to have a game like this, I know this is a huge confidence booster,” coach Fred Hoiberg said.

Oklahoma City tied it with just over 5 minutes left in the game. But Rose’s performance in the closing minutes helped offset Durant’s 33 points and lifted the Bulls after they got blown out at Charlotte two nights earlier.The Bulls were clinging to a 98-96 lead when Rose buried consecutive jumpers to make it a six-point game with just over a minute remaining.After Durant hit a jumper, Pau Gasol nailed a sweeping hook with 38.4 seconds left, sealing the win for the Bulls.Rose, still wearing a face mask after missing almost the entire preseason because of a fractured left orbital, found his rhythm after three straight single-digit scoring games. Butler set a career-high with 21 first-half points and hit four 3-pointers in the game, and the Bulls got back to winning after getting squashed by Charlotte 130-105 on Tuesday night.

”That game was embarrassing a little bit,” Rose said. ”Looking at film after it happened, we were frustrated. We felt like we let each other down. After the way we practiced yesterday, we could tell we got that competitive spirit again.”

Russell Westbrook had 20 points and 10 assists for Oklahoma City while Serge Ibaka scored 17. But the Thunder, playing their fourth game in five nights, came up short down the stretch again and dropped their third straight. They blew a late eight-point lead in a 105-98 loss to Toronto on Wednesday night.

”It’s not four games in five nights,” Durant said. ”We have to figure it out. We have to figure it out, man. We’ve got to get stops. We have to buckle down and do it.”

The Bulls were leading 78-77 early in the fourth when Joakim Noah threw an alley-oop pass to Taj Gibson. That started a nine-point run and Rose finished it by banking in a jumper to make it 87-77 with 8:51 remaining.But the Thunder answered with a 13-3 run. Durant threw down a fastbreak dunk and hit two free throws to tie it at 90-all with just over 5 minutes left before Gasol nailed a jumper.

NOTES—Given their history together, it was hardly a surprise that Thunder coach Billy Donovan had high praise for Bulls C Noah. After all, Noah was part of back-to-back championship teams when he played for Donovan at Florida….Doug McDermott scored nine points in his first career start. Tony Snell came off the bench. … Butler had scored 17 points in a first half three times….The Bulls host Minnesota on Saturday night.