Week 8 saved its best for last: a one-yard line, Patrick Mahomes with the ball, and a Denver defence that simply refused to move.
Key Points
- The Denver Broncos beat the Kansas City Chiefs 28–24, sealing the win with a goal-line stand in the final seconds.
- The Detroit Lions beat Minnesota 19–15, ending the Vikings’ run as the NFL‘s last unbeaten team.
- Buffalo thrashed Baltimore 36–10, with the Ravens fearing a serious injury to quarterback Lamar Jackson.
- Tampa Bay won a game without completing a single pass — the first team to do so since 1974.
Denver’s last stand
Kansas City arrived in Denver trailing, rallied to lead 24–13 after three quarters behind three Mahomes touchdown passes, and then watched the game flip. Bo Nix threw a touchdown pass and a two-point conversion, Jonah Coleman scored on a five-yard run with 1:56 left, and the Chiefs’ final drive died on the Broncos’ one-yard line when Mahomes was sacked by Malcolm Roach on the last play.
The 28–24 win was only the third time in 83 games that Mahomes has lost after leading by 10 or more in the fourth quarter. Kansas City, now 5–2, has lost two straight. Nix finished 20 of 32 for 222 yards and two touchdowns.
The last unbeaten team falls
Minnesota’s perfect start is over. The Vikings led Detroit 15–12 in the fourth quarter after Kyler Murray’s touchdown pass to TJ Hockenson and a two-point conversion, but Jared Goff found Jameson Williams for a seven-yard touchdown with 4:35 remaining to give the Lions a 19–15 win. Minnesota drops to 6–1 — still an NFC contender, but no longer untouchable.
Buffalo’s statement, Baltimore’s worry
The Bills made the loudest noise of the day. Josh Allen threw for 289 yards and two touchdowns and ran for another score in a 36–10 demolition of the Ravens that takes Buffalo to 6–1 and the top of the AFC. Baltimore’s concern goes beyond the scoreline: Lamar Jackson was injured during the game, and there are fears the Ravens may have lost their quarterback for the rest of the season — a blow that would reshape the AFC playoff race overnight.
The strangest win of the season
And then there was Tampa Bay. The Buccaneers beat Atlanta 16–0 without completing a single pass — something no NFL team had done since 1974, and only the second such win in league history. In an era of record passing numbers, the Bucs won a shutout with a game plan from another century.
Elsewhere, Jacksonville humiliated Indianapolis 42–7, Cincinnati survived Tennessee 43–36 in overtime, Arizona edged Dallas 33–30 in overtime on Chad Ryland’s field goal, Las Vegas outscored the Jets 38–33, Pittsburgh handled Cleveland 27–6, and Washington deepened Philadelphia’s crisis, beating the Eagles 27–10 for the champions’ sixth straight defeat.
What happens next
Week 8 wraps up on Monday night when the Chicago Bears visit the Seattle Seahawks, a result that could shuffle the NFC seeding again — San Francisco currently holds the conference’s top spot at 6–1 on a tiebreaker. The bigger story of the week, though, is in Baltimore: everything about the AFC race now waits on medical news about Lamar Jackson’s knee.
Sources: Sky Sports NFL results coverage — https://www.skysports.com/nfl/live-blog/13606714/nfl-2026-results-and-highlights-buffalo-bills-beat-baltimore-ravens-after-lamar-jackson-injury ; The Irish Press / AFP roundup — https://www.theirishpress.com/Sports/810299-vikings-suffer-first-loss-while-broncos-edge-chiefs-in-nfl.html
