Texans, Patriots, 49ers, Bills, Bears and Rams advance to NFL's divisional round

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Houston's stingy defense knocked Aaron Rodgers and the Pittsburgh Steelers out of the NFL playoffs, sending the Texans to the divisional round to complete wild-card weekend.

The Texans sacked Rodgers four times, scored two defensive touchdowns and held Pittsburgh to 175 yards in a 30-6 victory on Monday night. It was Houston's 10th straight win and the franchise's first on the road in the playoffs.

Mike Tomlin and the Steelers lost their seventh consecutive playoff game, and Rodgers may have played the last game of his Hall of Fame career.

Houston (13-5), the AFC's No. 5 seed, will face the No. 2 seed New England Patriots (15-3) next Sunday at 3 p.m. EST. The No. 2 seed Bears (12-6) will host the No. 5 seed Rams (13-5) in the second game Sunday.

The divisional round will kick off with the No. 6 seed Bills (13-5) at the No. 1 seed Broncos (14-3) on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. The No. 6 seed 49ers (13-5) will face the top-seeded Seahawks (14-3) in the night game.

In Sunday's wild-card games, Brock Purdy tossed a 4-yard TD pass to Christian McCaffrey with 2:54 remaining to lift the 49ers to a 23-19 comeback win at Philadelphia. McCaffrey also caught a 29-yard TD pass from wide receiver Jauan Jennings.

The Patriots sacked Justin Herbert six times and held Los Angeles to just 207 yards in a 16-3 win on Sunday night.

Josh Allen led Buffalo to a 27-24 comeback victory in Jacksonville in Sunday's first game. Allen scored on a 1-yard run late in the fourth quarter and Cole Bishop intercepted Trevor Lawrence's pass to secure Buffalo's first playoff win on the road since the 1992 AFC championship game at Miami.

On Saturday, the playoffs kicked off with two wacky games.

The Bears trailed the Green Bay Packers 21-3 at halftime and 27-16 with just under seven minutes left in the fourth quarter before Caleb Williams threw a pair of touchdown passes. His 25-yard TD toss to D.J. Moore put Chicago ahead 31-27 with 1:43 remaining. Then Jordan Love's desperation heave into the end zone from the Bears 28 was knocked down as time expired to secure Chicago's first playoff win since the 2010 season.

Williams finished with 361 yards passing, two TDs and two interceptions for the Bears.

In the opener on wild-card weekend, Matthew Stafford threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to Colby Parkinson in the final minute and Los Angeles rallied to beat the Carolina Panthers 34-31 in a game that was much closer than expected.

The Rams were double-digit favorites on BetMGM Sportsbook against the Panthers (8-10). The Rams jumped to a 14-0 lead, but couldn’t take advantage of first-half turnovers and allowed Carolina to get within 17-14 at halftime.

Stafford, who earned All-Pro honors for the first time in his 17-year career on Saturday, threw for 304 yards, three TDs and had one pick. Puka Nacua, who was a unanimous All-Pro selection, had 10 catches for 111 yards and one TD and also had a 5-yard TD run.

The Rams are back in the divisional round for the second straight season. Last year, they were 13 yards away from eliminating Philadelphia before a sack and an incomplete pass ended their season with a 28-22 loss.

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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl