Perfect no more, injuries mounting for Packers

The Green Bay Packers aren't perfect. That much was clear even before a surprise loss at Kansas City on Sunday cost them a shot at an undefeated season.

The Packers have been giving up too many big plays on defense all season, and injuries now appear to be taking a toll on the offense. Already missing wide receiver Greg Jennings, the Packers lost starting right tackle Bryan Bulaga to a left knee sprain and backup Derek Sherrod to a broken right leg.

It all caught up to them in a disappointing 19-14 loss to the Chiefs.

It's only one game, and it doesn't change the Packers' status as overwhelming favorites in the NFC. But the issues that came up at Kansas City are challenges the Packers will have to overcome to put together another Super Bowl run.

"Very quiet plane ride home last night, and understandably so," Packers coach Mike McCarthy said Monday. "Everybody's disappointed with the loss and the opportunity to have an undefeated season. But the reality is upon us. We have the goal of getting of home-field advantage right in front of us. We have it at home, against the Bears, and that's what we need to get ready for."

Going into their Christmas night matchup against Chicago at Lambeau Field, players were disappointed to lose a chance to go through a season unbeaten but reiterated that another Super Bowl was always their main goal.

"The perfect season is over now," wide receiver Donald Driver said after Sunday's game. "We can let that kinda die out. We know we have five games left to win the whole thing, and it's going to start next week, Christmas Day. We've just got to go back and look at our mistakes, correct them and get ready to play ball."

• Hair-raising victories have Cardinals at .500: The Arizona Cardinals don't always win when they trail at halftime. Yet every time they do win, it's been after trailing at the half.

And lately, they've been winning a lot.

The Cardinals made it four in a row and six out of seven in the usual fashion Sunday - beating the Cleveland Browns 20-17 in overtime. Arizona hasn't won this many in a row since 1999 and is at .500 (7-7) for the first time since week two of this season.

The Cardinals even have a longshot at making the playoffs with two games to go.

Following Sunday's win, team President Michael Bidwill presented Ken Whisenhunt the game ball for becoming the winningest coach in franchise history with 43 victories.

• Bolts need to win out, have Denver lose out: The best scenario for suddenly resurgent Philip Rivers and the San Diego Chargers to reach the playoffs is to win their final two games - both on the road - and have Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos follow their loss to New England with two more defeats.

Otherwise, one more Denver win will knock the Chargers out of the AFC West race.

The Chargers' shot at the second AFC wild-card spot is more jumbled, although San Diego could be eliminated with a loss Sunday and a win by the New York Jets or Cincinnati Bengals.

Even before stunning the Baltimore Ravens 34-14 on Sunday night, the Chargers got a lot of help. Denver, Oakland, the Jets and Tennessee all lost.

• Raiders look to recover from late-game collapse: A late-game collapse has essentially left the Oakland Raiders' hopes of ending an eight-year playoff drought to this formula: Win their final two games and hope.

Before the Raiders can start digging deep into the NFL's tiebreaking scenarios they have a much more important task. They must figure out how to get back on track following a three-game losing streak.

Lopsided losses at Miami and Green Bay were followed by perhaps Oakland's most crushing loss of the season. The Raiders (7-7) blew a 13-point lead in the closing minutes against Detroit and lost 28-27 on Sunday to deal a blow to their playoff hopes.

• Titans waste big chance, stick with Hasselbeck: The Tennessee Titans have little time to fret over a long list of mental errors that cost them a prime opportunity to grab control the AFC's final wild card.

Despite handing the Indianapolis its first win this season, the Titans (7-7) remain mathematically alive for the playoffs. Coach Mike Munchak said that means Saturday's home finale against Jacksonville (4-10) is a playoff game.

And Munchak is sticking with Matt Hasselbeck as his quarterback.

The only way rookie Jake Locker gets his first start this season is if Hasselbeck isn't healthy enough to play. But the 13-year veteran, who has been hampered by a strained left calf muscle, was healthy enough to start Sunday's 27-13 loss to the Colts, and Munchak said Hasselbeck just had some swelling in his leg from playing.

• 49ers 20, Steelers 3: Vernon Davis caught a 1-yard touchdown pass for host San Francisco (11-3), one play after setting himself up with a 21-yard reception from Alex Smith and the 49ers beat Pittsburgh (10-4).

Frank Gore ran for a 5-yard score and David Akers kicked field goals of 22 and 38 yards to overtake Hall of Famer Jerry Rice for the 49ers' single-season scoring record (141 points).