Love matches career high with 4 TD passes, lifting Packers to a win over Lions

DETROIT (AP) — Jordan Love converted a pair of fourth downs with touchdown passes in the first half and finished with a career-high-matching four TD throws, leading the Green Bay Packers to a 31-24 win over the Detroit Lions on Thursday.

The Packers (8-3-1) swept the season series to earn a potential tiebreaker in the NFC North and are in second place in the division behind Chicago (8-3), which plays at Philadelphia on Friday.

The two-time defending division champion Lions (7-5) entered the game out of the playoff picture, then fell further back in the hunt with a third loss in five games.

Detroit turned the ball over on downs on the opening drive of the second half and early in the fourth quarter.

Two plays after Jahmyr Gibbs was stopped for a loss just inside Green Bay territory on fourth down, Love threw a 51-yard touchdown pass to Christian Watson to give Green Bay a 24-14 lead early in the third.

The Lions went for it fourth-and-3 from Packers 21 — trailing by 10 — and Jameson Williams dropped a pass.

Detroit’s defense responded with a stop and the offense reached the Green Bay 4 before Micah Parsons’ sack forced coach Dan Campbell to settle for a field goal and a 31-24 deficit with 2:59 left.

Parsons finished with 2 1/2 sacks.

On the ensuing possession, Love converted a third-and-5 with an 8-yard pass to Watson and a fourth-and-3 on a 16-yard pass to Dontayvion Wicks to seal the victory.

Love was 18 of 30 for 234 yards with a 22-yard pass to Wicks and 2-yard pass to Doubs for touchdowns on fourth down in the second quarter. In the third, he threw a long touchdown pass to Watson and a 1-yard throw to Wicks for the receiver’s second score of the game — and season.

Jared Goff was 20 of 26 for 256 yards with two touchdowns, a 22-yard pass to Williams late in the first half and a 17-yard pass to rookie Isaac TeSlaa in the third quarter.

COWBOYS 31, CHIEFS 28

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Dak Prescott threw for two touchdowns, Malik Davis sprinted 43 yards for a score and Dallas overcame two fourth down TD throws from Patrick Mahomes in a Thanksgiving victory over the Kansas City.

CeeDee Lamb scored the first Dallas touchdown and finished with 112 yards on seven catches four days after drops plagued the star receiver in a victory over defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia.

The Cowboys (6-5-1) finished a sweep of last season’s Super Bowl teams in the past two games with their third consecutive win while sending the defending AFC champion Chiefs (6-6) back to .500 in a matchup of playoff-chasing teams.

Mahomes had four touchdown passes in his first professional game at the home of the Cowboys, where he played three times for Texas Tech not far from his East Texas roots.

Travis Kelce caught Mahomes’ first fourth down TD toss on a 2-yarder, and Rashee Rice’s second scoring catch came on fourth-and-3 early in the fourth quarter.

BENGALS 33, RAVENS 14

BALTIMORE (AP) — Joe Burrow threw two second-half touchdown passes in his return for Cincinnati, and the Bengals snapped Baltimore’s five-game winning streak with a victory over the fumble-prone Ravens.

Baltimore (6-6) lost three fumbles in the first half and turned the ball over five times in the game. Although the Bengals (4-8) didn’t take full advantage of those miscues, Burrow and his receivers began to click in the final two quarters.

Tanner Hudson made a terrific one-handed grab in the end zone for a 14-yard touchdown to put Cincinnati up 19-7, and after the Ravens answered with Keaton Mitchell’s 18-yard touchdown run, Burrow threw a 29-yard scoring pass to Andrei Iosivas late in the third quarter.

Baltimore then drove into Bengals territory, but Lamar Jackson’s deflected pass was intercepted by Demetrius Knight Jr. — the two-time MVP’s third turnover of the night.