Winner: Ron Rivera

Sunday's NFL Winners and Losers

Just when it looked like Rivera was on his way out, Carolina started winning. It won again on Sunday, 17-6 over Oakland. It's the Panthers' third straight win and fourth in five tries. So much for Carolina's new GM definitely getting rid of Rivera. The Panthers coach may have bought himself another year with this hot streak. (AP Photo/Mike McCarn)

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The Best and Wor... Jordan Raanan, XFINITY Sports

The Colts, Vikings, Bengals and Redskins all won in Week 16 to help their respective playoff pushes. Duh, I predicted that prior to the season.

Here are this week's winners and losers: (AP Photos)

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Winner: Minnesot... What an impressive performance from the Vikings defense. Even before Houston star running back Arian Foster left with an irregular heartbeat he had eight rushes for 12 yards in the first half. Overall, the Texans finished with 187 total yards as the Vikings remained in the NFC playoff mix with the stunning road upset. (AP Photo/Dave Einsel)

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Loser: Ben Roeth... Big Ben's been clutch before. He was the anti-clutch on Sunday in a do-or-die game against the Bengals. Roethlisberger threw an awful interception from his own territory in the final seconds to put the Bengals close to field-goal range. Several plays later, Josh Brown hit a 43-yard field goal as Cincinnati beat the Steelers, 13-10, and clinched a playoff spot. Pittsburgh was eliminated from postseason contention. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

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Winner: Seatte S... Talk about getting hot at the right time. For the third straight week, Seattle didn't win. It obliterated an opponent. This time the victim was the division rival 49ers, 42-12. The victory put the Seahawks in the playoffs and kept them in the NFC West title race. The Seahawks also have now scored a ridiculous 150 points in their last three games. That is called winning ... BIG! (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

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Winner: Washingt... The Redskins now have nine wins this season. That's a ton more than most pundits predicted. They're in the driver's seat for the NFC East after a hard-fought 27-20 victory in Philadelphia. That nobody predicted. And they did it Sunday with RG3 clearly not at full strength. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

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Winner: Janoris ... The rookie cornerback scored his fourth defensive touchdown of the season. That's a good career for some CBs. This time Jenkins returned a Josh Freeman pass 41 yards for a touchdown as the Rams won their seventh game of the season. (AP Photo/Reinhold Matay)

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Loser: New York ... What has happened to the Giants? They're falling apart. This time they lost 33-14 in Baltimore. They've now been outscored 67-14 in the last two weeks and need a ton of help next week just to sneak into the playoffs. The defending Super Bowl champs are in a free-fall. (AP Photo)

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Winner Dez Bryan... The Cowboys lost in overtime to the Saints, 34-31, but still have a chance to win the NFC East title. Much of that has to do with wide receiver Dez Bryant. The talented wide receiver had nine catches for 224 yards and 2 TDs in Sunday's loss, and now has 10 TDs in his last seven games. So much for that bum finger limiting his effectiveness. (AP Photo/Sharon Ellman)

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Winner: Jaguars ... Who would have guessed Jacksonville would be the ones to hold Tom Brady and the Patriots' No. 1-ranked offense to 349 yards and 23 points? That's quite an effort. Too bad it still wasn't enough for the Jags to avoid a 23-16 loss to New England. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

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Winner: Reggie B... The Dolphins running back had five touchdowns in 14 games entering Sunday. None were receiving touchdowns. Bush had three against the Bills in Week 16, two of which were receiving. It was a good afternoon for Bush in a 24-01 win over Buffalo. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

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Loser: Jake Lock... It was another unconvincing performance from Locker on Sunday in Green Bay. He completed just 13 of 30 passes for 140 yards with a touchdown and interception in the Titans' 55-7 loss. Tennessee has to be worried about its future at quarterback. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

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Winner: Ron Rive... Just when it looked like Rivera was on his way out, Carolina started winning. It won again on Sunday, 17-6 over Oakland. It's the Panthers' third straight win and fourth in five tries. So much for Carolina's new GM definitely getting rid of Rivera. The Panthers coach may have bought himself another year with this hot streak. (AP Photo/Mike McCarn)

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Winner: Indianap... The Colts lost one of the best quarterbacks of all time and then their coach had to take a leave absence with cancer. Yet Indy is in the playoffs. The Colts clinched a playoff berth on Sunday with a 20-13 victory over the Chiefs. What a season for Andrew Luck and company. Luck, the rookie quarterback and No. 1 overall pick in the draft, also set a new rookie record for passing yards in a season. (AP Photo/Ed Zurga)

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Loser: Greg McEl... This was the former Alabama star's chance to prove he's capable of being a starting NFL quarterback. His first career start didn't turn out well. McElroy was sacked 11 times in the Jets' 27-17 loss to the Chargers. Not that it was all McElroy's fault. Maybe nobody can succeed with that offensive talent. Unfortunately, it might have been McElroy's only chance to prove he can succeed as a starter. (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)

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Winner: Julius P... Pepper had three sacks. The Bears defense had scored two more touchdowns in a 28-13 win in Arizona. Charles Tillman returned an interception 10 yards for a TD and Zack Bowman scooped a fumbe for another score as the Bears earned a much-needed victory to improve their playoff prospects. It was like the Bears defense from earlier in the year showed up in Arizona. Just in time too. (AP Photo)

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Winner: Peyton M... Even by Peyton Manning standards, Sunday was a good game. He threw for a season-high 339 yards and 3 TDs on 30-of-43 passing in a 34-12 demolition of Cleveland. The Broncos have now won 10 straight and still have a chance to be the AFC's No. 1 overall seed. (AP Photo/Joe Mahoney)

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