Denver seemed headed to the playoffs.

Then the 49ers' Walt Harris, Frank Gore and Joe Nedney got in the way, giving Kansas City the NFL's last playoff spot by knocking out the Broncos 26-23 in overtime.

The New York Jets also made it and so did the Giants, who had all but clinched their NFC postseason berth by beating Washington on Saturday night.

But the most improbable team was the Chiefs, who started the day at the bottom of the potential playoff teams.

It looked especially dark after the Broncos took a 13-0 lead against double-digit underdog San Francisco. But the 49ers rallied behind Gore's running; an interception return for a touchdown by Harris, and Nedney's four field goals, the last a 36-yarder with 1:56 left in overtime.

That knocked out Denver (9-7) and put in Kansas City (9-7) which beat Jacksonville 35-30. The Chiefs needed more help than that and got it — losses by Tennessee, 40-23 to New England and Cincinnati, which was beaten 23-17 in overtime by Pittsburgh.

The Chiefs took care of their own business first.

"My thoughts were real simple — we had to win," coach Herman Edwards said. "And I wanted to make sure that our guys understood that.

"I said, `If we win, I've been in this situation before. Things can happen. We ended up winning, and it all worked out for us."

The Chiefs' also thought the victories were a tribute to the team's founder, Lamar Hunt, who died on Dec. 14.

"I've had some people in the locker room suggest that maybe my father had a hand in that," said his son, Clark Hunt.

The Jets got the other wild-card spot by beating Oakland 23-3 and moved up to the fifth seed when Denver lost. The Jets will go to New England next Sunday after splitting the season's series with the Patriots, including a 17-14 win Nov. 12 in Foxborough.

In Chicago, the Packers totally outplayed the Bears even though Green Bay (8-8) had been eliminated earlier in the day.The 37-year-old Favre was superb in what he said could be his finale.The three-time MVP completed 21-of-42 passes with a touchdown and interception in what could be his last game. He had 209 yards in the first half alone as the Packers grabbed a 23-0 lead.

At Irving, the Cowboys were done in by repeated mistakes from Tony Romo and a few more by Terence Newman.Roy Williams caught a pair of touchdown passes for the Lions, Mike Furrey and Mike Williams each caught one and Jason Hanson kicked four field goals, helping Detroit (3-13) score its most points of the season and win a game the franchise might have been better off losing. Now Oakland gets the top overall pick and the Lions will go second.

At East Rutherford, Chad Pennington threw a touchdown pass to Chris Baker, Leon Washington ran for a score and Mike Nugent kicked three field goals. New York (10-6) never trailed and took control in the second half. The Jets were 4-12 last year.

In Kansas City, Larry Johnson scored three touchdowns and rushed for 138 yards on 33 carries, giving him an NFL-record 416 carries this season. His 1,789 yards beat the record of 1,750 he set last year. Atlanta's Jamal Anderson had the NFL record for attempts in a season with 410 in 1998.

At Nashville, Corey Dillon ran for two touchdowns and Tom Brady threw for a TD as New England stopped the Titans' attempt to become the first team to start 0-5 and make the playoffs.

At San Diego, Philip Rivers threw two touchdown passes after injuring his right foot, and LaDainian Tomlinson also limped off after wrapping up his first NFL rushing title.San Diego heads into the playoffs with a 10-game winning streak and its first perfect home record since 1963. The Chargers' 14 wins and eight home victories are club records.

In Baltimore, Chris McAlister returned an interception 31 yards for a touchdown and the Ravens yielded only 39 yards rushing. Baltimore will enter the playoffs with a four-game winning streak and nine wins in its last 10 games.

At Philadelphia, the Eagles (10-6) clinched the NFC East title earlier when Dallas lost. So coach Andy Reid pulled his starters to keep them healthy.A.J. Feeley threw for a career-best 321 yards and three touchdowns to help the Eagles win their fifth straight game without Donovan McNabb.

At Indianapolis, Peyton Manning threw two touchdowns, ran for another and watched his maligned defense limit Miami to five field goals before giving up a late touchdown.

In New Orleans, Drew Brees played only one full series and led a scoring drive that ended with Reggie Bush's short touchdown run that put New Orleans up 7-0. Brees, coming back from complicated offseason throwing shoulder surgery that left his future in doubt, finished the regular season with a career-best 4,418 yards passing.

At Tampa, Seattle broke a three-game losing streak to get some playoff momentum. Shaun Alexander ran for one touchdown and Matt Hasselbeck threw for a second.

In Minneapolis, Steven Jackson had a career-high four touchdowns and 166 yards from scrimmage, helping the Rams finish the year 8-8.Texans 14, Browns 6In Houston, the Texans were outgained 306 to 177 yards, but got a win over Cleveland (4-12) thanks to several costly errors by the Browns.The victory gives the Texans (6-10) back-to-back wins for the first time since 2004.