They stopped Peyton Manning from breaking the record Sunday night but they didn't stop Peyton Manning. That was the costly reality for the Baltimore Ravens.

Baltimore's often savage defense limited Manning to a single touchdown pass that left the Indianapolis Colts quarterback one shy of tying Dan Marino's single-season record of 48. But it couldn't stop him from beating them, 20-10, a loss that dropped the Ravens' to 8-6 and behind the Jacksonville Jaguars in the race for the AFC's final playoff spot.

The Colts, meanwhile, improved to 11-3, but nothing really changed for them in the grand scheme of things because they remain the conference's fourth seed behind Pittsburgh, New England and San Diego.

Manning had another day in which he controlled the outcome, even though he was limited to a single 29-yard touchdown pass to Marvin Harrison in the third quarter. What Manning did do was more important however. He played the kind of controlled, patient game he'll need to move the Colts through the playoffs, completing 20 of 33 passes for 249 yards and — most importantly — no turnovers.

Manning's refusal to be flustered by the Ravens was important. But perhaps more important for the Colts was not that their high-powered offense showed it could score on one of the best defenses in football, but that their young and improving defense shined once again. Led by defensive end Dwight Freeney, who dominated All-Pro left tackle Jonathan Ogden throughout the game, the Colts allowed little other than the 100+ yards of Jamal Lewis.

Freeney, who leads the NFL in sacks, was in the Ravens' backfield nearly as often as Lewis, and that made it nearly impossible for Baltimore quarterback Kyle Boller to match Manning's efficiency.

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The resulting loss cost the Ravens dearly, because it slipped them behind the Jaguars in the four-team fight for that final wild-card playoff spot, which also includes the streaking Buffalo Bills and fading Denver Broncos.

That's the case because the Jaguars did the near-impossible, going up to frigid Green Bay and beating the Packers at Lambeau Field despite the fact the wind chill was sub-zero.

Coming into Sunday, Jacksonville was 0-4 in games in which the temperature was 30 degrees or cooler, while Green Bay's Brett Favre was 38-1 as a starter in games played at Lambeau Field when the temperature was below 34. On Sunday, the Packers were put on ice by Jaguars running back Fred Taylor, who rumbled for 165 yards.

The Pack might have been able to survive Taylor's assault had it not been for the Benedict Arnold-like performance of Favre, who was a one-man turnover machine. Favre is usually at his best, it seems, when the conditions are worst.

But not this time. Favre threw two interceptions — including one horrible one in the end zone — and fumbled twice in a 28-25 loss that had the oddest of possible outcomes for the Packers.

So wacky is the NFC playoff race that even though the Packers were beaten, they clinched at least a wild card playoff spot after Chicago, Dallas, Carolina and the New York Giants all lost to take themselves out of contention. The Packers could still lose the NFC North to the Vikings (with whom they're now tied at 8-6) but they're guaranteed a playoff spot regardless of that now.

As for the Vikings, they finally got a break.

Minnesota, losers of five of its previous seven games as it appeared to be fading into oblivion for the second straight season, pulled out a 28-27 victory over Detroit that eliminated the Lions' last hope of the playoffs. To accomplish the feat, the Vikings needed Lions long-snapper Don Mohlbach to mess up an extra point snap with eight seconds left. This cost the Lions the tying point in what would be a 28-27 loss.

The Vikings can clinch their division on Friday if they can beat the Packers and then go on to defeat Washington in the final game of the season. But things are so messed up in the NFC that Minnesota could also end up with a wild-card spot without winning another game.

"I feel bad for him (Muhlbach) but good for us,'' Vikings quarterback Daunte Culpepper said. "It's about time we were on the other side of one of those kind of plays.''

One guy who didn't feel good was St. Louis Rams head coach Mike Martz, who saw his team destroyed 31-7 by the Arizona Cardinals on a day when they could have taken the lead back from the Seahawks in the NFC West race.

That's because Seattle continued its slide and was routed by the New York Jets, 37-14. Chad Pennington bounced back from an off game to throw three touchdown passes and lead the Jets to 482 yards of offense. Seattle turned the ball over three times and lost quarterback Matt Hasselbeck late in the game to an elbow injury, but the Seahawks didn't lose their one-game lead over the Rams because St. Louis played even worse than they did.

The Cardinals snapped a four-game losing streak to drop the Rams to 6-8, one game behind the Seahawks. The Rams hold the tiebreaker edge over Seattle, if they could just force a tie.

Meanwhile, the Chargers answered a few more questions about their team when they went up to frozen Cleveland, where it was 18 degrees with a sub-zero wind chill factor, and posted their first shutout since 1993 — a 21-0 slug-it-out victory.

This was anything but ideal weather for the Chargers, who came from balmy San Diego to snowy Cleveland. But the Chargers didn't miss a beat.

Chargers coach Mart Schottenheimer called only six pass plays all afternoon as the Chargers pounded out the win behind the 111 rushing yards of LaDainian Tomlinson, and one timely throw from quarterback Drew Brees.

Brees finished the day only four-for-six, but one of those throws was a 72-yard touchdown pass to remarkable tight end Antonio Gates. The long score allowed Gates to tie the record for tight ends with his 12th touchdown reception of the season. More importantly the victory propelled the Chargers (11-3) to their eighth straight victory and their first playoff appearance since 1995, only one year after they were the worst team in the NFL.

"To go from where we were to this is awesome,''; Tomlinson said.

Heading in the opposite direction are the Denver Broncos who were lambasted by the Kansas City Chiefs, 45-17, to fall to 8-6 and potentially out of the wild-card picture.

As things stand today, the Jets (10-4) and Jaguars (8-6) would join the division winning Patriots, Steelers, Colts and Chargers in the AFC playoffs.

In the NFC, the Eagles, Falcons (11-3 and NFC South champions) and Packers are assured of NFC playoff slots while the Vikings, Seahawks and Panthers would back in at the moment. New Orleans and St. Louis still have faint hopes of reaching the postseason.

The Broncos, however, appear to be proving once again that the genius of head coach Mike Shanahan had a lot more to do with the skill of Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway than anything he contributed during Denver's glory years.

Since Elway retired following the 1998 Super Bowl, the Broncos have made the playoffs only twice, losing in the first round both times by a combined score of 62-13.

On Sunday, Denver's current quarterback, Jake Plummer, continued to kill his team. He was sacked six times and threw two interceptions. So much for systems and coaching genius.

Lastly, the Buffalo Bills routed the Bengals, 33-17, for their fifth straight win. The Bills lose on most tiebreaker scenarios, but they're still alive at 8-6. If they can win out, they have a shot at the playoffs, and that's no longer as far-fetched as it might have seemed when they opened the season 0-4.

"I've never been in a position this late in December to have something to play for other than pride,'' said linebacker Takeo Spikes, the ex-Bengal who intercepted a Jon Kitna pass and returned it 62 yards for a touchdown.

The most alarming thing that happened Sunday though had nothing to do with the playoff races, but potentially everything to do with the Eagles' playoff fate. Wide receiver Terrell Owens badly sprained his ankle in Philadelphia's meaningless 12-7 win over Dallas.

The victory allowed the Eagles to keep pace with the Steelers for best record in football (both are 13-1 and the Patriots can join them Monday night if they beat the Dolphins) but if Owens is seriously injured they won't keep pace for long.

"We've been to the NFC Championship game without T.O.,'' Eagles' quarterback Donovan McNabb pointed out. He failed to add however that they've lost that game each of the last three seasons — in part because he seldom had an open wide receiver, thus allowing defenses to stuff the Eagles running game.

Owens has 77 receptions for 1,200 yards and 14 touchdowns, and his impact has been so obvious on the Eagles that he should at least be considered for the league MVP award. It's difficult to think of a scenario where Owens beats out Manning for that award, but it's even more difficult to think of a scenario where the Eagles win the Super Bowl without T.O.

Of course the same applies to the Colts if anything happens to Manning, which explains why Manning took a knee on the Ravens' 3-yard line late in the game instead of trying to tie Marino's record.

The hometown crowd booed that decision. But if they thought for a minute of poor Terrell Owens and what life would be like without Manning, they would have carried Colts coach Tony Dungy off on their shoulders.

NFL game stories Quick look at Week 4 games STEELERS 23, RAVENS 20, OT: Baltimore loses first game of season REDSKINS 26, COWBOYS 24: Dallas can't contain Portis in 1st loss BEARS 24, EAGLES 20: Goal-line stand boosts Chicago JETS 56, CARDINALS 35: Favre throws career-high 6 TDs BUCS 30, PACKERS 21: Ryan's 3 FGs lift Tampa CHARGERS 28, RAIDERS 18: San Diego tops rival 10th straight time BILLS 31, RAMS 14: Buffalo 4-0 for first time since 1992 CHIEFS 33, BRONCOS 19: Johnson rushes for 198 yards for K.C. BROWNS 20, BENGALS 12: Anderson throws TD TITANS 30, VIKINGS 17: Tennessee 4-0 for first time ever PANTHERS 24, FALCONS 9: Smith honors Lucas after TD JAGUARS 30, TEXANS 27, OT: Scobey kicks game winner SAINTS 31, 49ERS 17: McAlister scores first TD of year

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