Steelers get 33-20 win over Bengals, who lose QB Dalton

Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton could be out for the season after fracturing the thumb on his throwing hand in the first quarter of Sunday’s 33-20 home loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Roethlisberger completed 30 of 39 passes for 282 yards, the first time he’s been less than 300 yards in the past five games. Dalton is in his fifth season as Cincinnati’s starting quarterback, and he has led the Bengals to the playoffs in each of the previous four seasons.

Oh, and that wasn’t it. Tight end Tyler Eifert was knocked from the game with a concussion just two plays before Dalton was injured trying to tackle Stephon Tuitt after his ill-advised shovel to Giovani Bernard was intercepted. It’s unclear how many weeks he’ll miss. That’s because Oakland’s Khalil Mack produced five sacks in the second half of a 15-12 win against Denver and Brock Osweiler, who called the defender’s performance “phenomenal” and “tremendous”.

The surging Seahawks won their fourth game in a row to improve to 8-5, but will have to find a replacement for Rawls, who entered Sunday leading the league in yards per carry. To his defense, McCarron did about as good of a job as the Bengals hoped but he just wasn’t good enough to lead the damaged Bengals back. Dallas (4-9) suffered a setback to its chances of winning the mediocre NFC East.

In Baltimore, Russell Wilson threw five touchdown passes, three to Doug Baldwin, against the injury-depleted Ravens.

Wilson went 23 for 32 for 292 yards. “I felt good, no matter how many reps you get in practice, it’s all based off of reps you get in the game”.

Otherwise, the Bengals would be out of wild-card contention. He returned to the sideline after the interception and tried to grip a ball. He said last week he didn’t want to shake Kelly’s hand or talk to the man who traded him. The New York Giants (5-7) could make it a three-way tie with a win at Miami on Monday night. Buffalo (6-7) fell two games behind in the AFC wild-card race.

Cincinnati closed within 23-10 when Nugent kicked a 46-yard field goal. He has started every game and gone 50-26 in the regular season since Cincinnati drafted him in the second round in 2011. The Steelers and Bengals have been in the same division since the 1970 NFL-AFL merger – 45 years ago now – and with the exception of a close-to-10-year span from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s before Bill Cowher was hired, the Steelers have controlled this series.

Chiefs 10, Chargers 3: In Kansas City, the Chiefs kept San Diego out of the end zone twice in the final seconds for their seventh consecutive win. Though they dropped out of the top spot in the AFC with the loss to Pittsburgh, they’re still sitting in the catbird seat of the AFC North and would have a first round bye if the playoffs started tomorrow.

Fitzpatrick, who has set a single-season career high with 25 touchdowns, finished 21 of 36 for 263 yards.

And they now have 85 points to close out halves, as Chris Boswell added a three-pointer with 27 seconds to play, one of just four field goals for the first-year kicker on the afternoon.

Realistically, Pittsburgh needed to win two of the three games to have a shot at making the postseason. After throwing an interception late in the second quarter, Manziel sat on the bench on the sideline and repeatedly smacked himself in the head with a Surface tablet. The Browns snapped a seven-game losing streak. However, owners may have already given up on Isaiah Crowell of the Cleveland Browns and Todd Gurley of the St. Louis Rams before their big games in Week 14.