A Baywatch revival, starring the NFL's Sunshine Boys

Confetti from an NFL weekend.

Green Bay 41, Minnesota 17

— At one point the Packers lost seven of eight games and were 4-8. Now they are 8-8 and only need to beat Detroit, in Lambeau Field, to pilfer the No. 7 playoff spot in the NFC.. A stout running game and a spectacular defensive performance meant that Aaron Rodgers only had to pass 24 times. Darnell Savage returned an interception 74 yards for a score, one of four Green Bay takeaways, and cornerback Jaire Alexander had most of the responsibility for the Vikings’ Justin Jefferson and held him to one catch for five yards.

— The Packers are plus-9 in turnovers during the win streak and have given up a total of 67 points, and that’s allowed them to win all four games without Rodgers putting up a single 100 in QB rating.

— The Vikings (12-4) fell to the No. 3 seed in the NFC, giving way to San Francisco, and they’ve rushed for 100 yards in only seven of their past seven games. Their point differential fell to minus-19, and they’ve given up 132 points in their past four games.

Tampa Bay 30, Carolina 24

— Tom Brady will be glad to welcome Rodgers into the playoffs. He’s already there as an NFC South champion despite the Bucs’ 8-8 record. Tampa Bay spotted Carolina a 14-0 lead, and Brady helped put up 20 points in the fourth quarter, the third Tampa Bay comeback win in its past five games.

— Brady hit 34 of 45 passes for 432 yards, three TDs and no picks, easily his best game of the year. Down 21-16, he took the Bucs on a 92-yard scoring drive as Mike Evans caught his third TD pass of the day. Then Anthony Nelson got a sack-fumble from Sam Darnold and set up Brady on the Carolina six. The king of quarterback sneaks picked up the final yard for a 30-21 lead.

— Tampa Bay also stuffed a Carolina running game that had rampaged for 350 yards against Detroit. The Panthers got 74 yards in 22 tries, and Darnold tried to take up the slack with three touchdown passes. Carolina’s late-season run will end short of the playoffs, and now we’ll see if interim coach Steve Wilks passed the audition.

New Orleans 20, Philadelphia 10

— The Eagles (13-3) are reaffirming that you’re only as good as your last MRI. Without Jalen Hurts, they’re 0-2, and without right tackle Lane Johnson they were brutalized by the Saints’ pass rush, as Cameron Jordan had three sacks himself to become the franchise’s alltime sacker. The Eagles rushed for 157 yards, total, in the losses to Dallas and New Orleans. So they’ll need to beat the Giants to clinch homefield in the NFC playoffs or even win the NFC East, which seemed inevitable three weeks ago.

— The Saints had seven sacks of Gardner Minshew, but the Eagles responded with six of their own, including two each by Brandon Graham and Haason Reddick. A 12-yard pick-six by Marshawn Lattimore wrapped it up for the visitors with 5:27 left.

— Minshew found A.J. Brown for a 78-yard touchdown, but had only 196 passing yards otherwise. Brown had his third 100-yard game in his past four.

New England 23, Miami 21

— The Dolphins, once 8-3, lost their fifth consecutive game at Foxboro, and they’ll play the Jets at home next week. Even if they win they’ll need Buffalo to beat the Patriots in order to make the playoffs.

— Tua Tagovailoa was out with a concussion, and Teddy Bridgewater went out with a finger injury. If Miami took home any hope, it came from third-stringer Skylar Thompson, who directed a 68-yard TD drive that ended with 1:04 left.

— Kyle Dugger’s pick-six put the Patriots up for good, and was the seventh defensive touchdown for New England (8-8), most by any NFL team since Jacksonville in 2017. The Patriots get into the playoffs if they pull off an unlikely win at Buffalo, but they can also back-door their way in if they lose. It would require losses by Miami (Jets), Tennessee (Jacksonville), and Pittsburgh (Cleveland).

Detroit 41, Chicago 10

— Nobody in the NFC wants to run into the volatile Lions in the playoffs, but it might not be a worry. Detroit has to win at Green Bay to stay alive and then would need the Rams to win at Seattle.

— Still, the Lions (8-8) have much to anticipate. For the fifth time they scored at least 35 points, and they won’t have to use the high draft pick they got from the Rams on a quarterback. This was Jared Goff’s eighth consecutive game without an interception, and he had three touchdown passes in a 21 for 29 performance.

— A number of young defenders have also provided hope, including James Houston, a rookie from Jackson State who had three sacks Sunday. He is the first NFL player ever to get eight sacks in his first six career games. Houston was a sixth-round pick. Aidan Hutchinson was the second-overall pick in the entire draft and he is keeping pace with seven and a half sacks, three interceptions and two fumble recoveries. He’s the first rookie to combine those numbers and the second defensive lineman to do it, after Chicago’s Richard Dent in 1990.

Jacksonville 31, Houston 3

— The Jaguars have won their way out of Urban Decline and now prepare for prime time. They play Tennessee Saturday night on national TV. If they win that, they win the AFC South and will be in the playoffs, after they went 3-14 in 2021.

— Travis Etienne ran for 108 yards, including a 62- yard touchdown, and sat out the second half. Trevor Lawrence, his old Clemson teammate, hit 17 of 21 passes. The defense hit Houston QB Davis Mills 12 times and got nine tackles from Foyesade Oluokun, who led the NFL in tackles last season and is leading this season. The former sixth-round pick from Yale was a Clayton, Mo. high school teammate of the Cowboys’ Zeke Elliott.

— Jacksonville was 3-14 last year and can finish 9-8 this year. Going from worst to first in a division is not unusual in the collectivist NFL. Ten teams have done it in the past ten years, including the Bengals last season on their way to a Super Bowl. But no one is minimizing the Jaguars’ first season with Doug Pederson as coach, and Lawrence’s second as a pro QB. It would be only their second winning record since 2007.