Colts Still Kickin’

Pulling off upset victories on wintry days in Kansas City is getting to be a habit for the Indianapolis Colts.

A year ago, the wild-card Colts scored a stunning playoff upset over Kansas City, ruining the Chiefs’ Super Bowl dreams and filling them with a thirst for revenge.

On Sunday, underdogs once again, the Colts’ took advantage of Kansas City’s injury-riddled defense to capture a 24-19 victory at Kansas City that left both teams hanging on the playoff cliff.

“Whew, I’ve got to get my heart quieted down a little,” Indianapolis coach Lindy Infante said after Dedric Mathis batted away Steve Bono’s pass in the end zone with 9 seconds left.

Rookie Marvin Harrison tied a team record by catching three touchdown passes from Jim Harbaugh as both teams went home with 9-6 records to watch the Jacksonville-Seattle game.

The Colts needed to win and have Houston, Oakland and Jacksonville lose to clinch a playoff bid.

Kansas City, which has lost three of its last four, will make the playoffs for the seventh straight year with a loss by Jacksonville against Atlanta next Sunday, or a Chiefs victory next week at Buffalo.

“Everybody knows this team stabbed us in the heart last year,” Chiefs receiver Tamarick Vanover said. “We really wanted to get some revenge. We had the opportunity, but we just didn’t get it done.”

The Colts had to hold their breath after Harrison’s third touchdown made it 24-13 with 3:48 left.

Steve Bono, who came in for an injured Rich Gannon in the second quarter, hit Kimble Anders with a 5-yard scoring pass with 1:17 to play to make it 24-19. Then the Chiefs’ Anthony Davis recovered an onside kick, and Bono passed the Chiefs to the 11 with 18 seconds left. But on fourth down, Mathis broke up Bono’s pass to Danan Hughes.

“I needed to come up with a big play and I did,” Mathis said. “It came down to the end.”

Vikings 21, Buccaneers 10

At Minnesota, the Vikings held Tampa Bay to eight first downs, just one in the first half, and used two touchdown runs by Leroy Hoard. Signed as a free agent last month, Hoard rushed for 101 yards and had his first two-touchdown game in two years.

The Bucs lost for only the second time in their last six games.

Cardinals 27, Redskins 26

At Phoenix, Washington, which started the season 7-1, capped its downward spiral with another wild loss to Arizona. The Cardinals also won 37-34 in overtime at Washington this year.

Kevin Butler’s 28-yard field goal with no time left lifted the Cardinals. Butler’s winning kick capped a 15-play, 69-yard drive that consumed the final 7:02. Kent Graham, who got his starting job back from Boomer Esiason early last week, was 16 for 40 until he went 4 for 6 on the final march.

Bengals 21, Oilers 13

At Houston, James Francis intercepted two passes, one for a 42-yard touchdown, and the Bengals moved to 6-2 under coach Bruce Coslet.

Coslet, who replaced Dave Shula on Oct. 27 as interim coach, was rewarded before the game with a four-year deal and an option for a fifth year if the Bengals make the playoffs in either of the final two years of the contract.

Broncos 24, Raiders 19

At Denver, the Raiders set a team record with 20 penalties for 157 yards and committed four turnovers, leading to 17 Denver points.

Oakland, which entered the game averaging 73 penalty yards per game, fell two penalties shy of the NFL record of 22, set in 1944. It was the most penalties since first-year Tampa Bay drew 20 against Seattle in 1976.

The victory capped a perfect home season for the Broncos and gave John Elway an NFL-best 126 career victories, one more than Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton.

Panthers 27, Ravens 16

At Charlotte, Carolina improved to 7-0 at Ericsson Stadium, where it has outscored opponents 194-67. In the second half, the Panthers have scored 83 points at home, while holding the visitors to 13.

Anthony Johnson, who ran for a 2-yard touchdown, finished with 81 yards rushing, putting him over 1,000 for the season, the first Panthers back to do so.

Baltimore is 0-8 on the road.

49ers 25, Steelers 15

At Pittsburgh, San Francisco became the first visitor to win in 13 games at Pittsburgh.

Steve Young threw three first-half TD passes the first against Pittsburgh’s defense at home in 13 quarters. The 49ers also turned a fumbled punt, a safety and a 43-yard pass interference penalty against Pro Bowl cornerback Rod Woodson into a 16-0 lead.

Packers 31, Lions 3

At Detroit, Desmond Howard returned a punt 92 yards for a touchdown, his third runback for a score this season for the Packers.

Antonio Freeman, Green Bay’s hot receiver, and Dorsey Levens, its hot runner, each had a touchdown.

The host Lions lost for the eighth time in the last nine games.

Saints 17, Giants 3

The most significant thing about this game was the determination that New York’s rival Jets would wind up with the top draft pick. The visiting Saints made sure of that by breaking a seven-game slide under interim coach Rick Venturi.

Mario Bates and Lorenzo Neal ran for touchdowns and the Saints defense limited New York to 138 yards - just 36 in the second half. It also forced four turnovers and sacked Dave Brown and rookie Danny Kanell seven times.

Rams 34, Falcons 27

At Atlanta, the teams combined for 11 turnovers. Quarterback Tony Banks fumbled four times and threw an interception for St. Louis, while Bobby Hebert was picked off six times for Atlanta. Keith Lyle had three of the interceptions.

Rams rookie Eddie Kennison caught five passes for 226 yards, including three long touchdowns, and Isaac Bruce set an NFL record for most receptions in the first three years of a career with 216.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: SUNDAY’S BEST

Quarterbacks Bobby Hebert 28-49-363-2-6 Tony Banks 11-16-304-3-1 Steve Young 24-36-253-3-0

Running backs Mario Bates 32-129-1 Lawrence Phillips 22-112-1 LeRoy Hoard 20-101-2

Receivers Eddie Kennison 5-226-3 Bert Emanuel 9-173-1 Marvin Harrison 6-103-3