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Surprising 2-0 starts in NFL

Dallas Cowboys tight end Jason Witten, right, lies on the ground after being stopped by Chicago Bears defenders, including safety Chris Harris, left, in the second half of an NFL football.
Bears, Bucs, Chiefs, Dolphins all perfect early

Sure, it's only two weeks into the NFL season. Still, look who is undefeated — and who is winless.

Yep, that's the Bears and Buccaneers and Chiefs and Texans at the top of the standings. And the defending division champion Vikings and Cowboys at the bottom.

Chicago, Tampa Bay, Kansas City, Miami and Pittsburgh all missed the playoffs last season. They all are 2-0 after Sunday's games.

"We've been saying what we are, which is a good football team," Bears coach Lovie Smith said after a 27-20 victory at Dallas. "But you have to get wins to validate that."

The Bears won seven games in 2009, four more than the Buccaneers managed. Yet Tampa Bay leads the NFC South after a 20-7 win at Carolina.

"It feels good to win," said second-year quarterback Josh Freeman, who has Tampa Bay off to its best start since it began 4-0 in 2005. "It feels good to win in a team effort. The offense came out and got some points on the board. The defense played lights-out in the second half. They held them out of the end zone and shut them out. It felt great to go out and play a divisional opponent and get the win."

Not getting wins are highly touted Minnesota and Dallas. It's too early to panic, but the Vikings have the deeper hole because Chicago and Green Bay already are two games in front of them in the NFC North.

"It's a 14-game season now and we're sitting at the bottom of it," said Brett Favre, who was 22 of 36 for 225 yards and had a dreadful 44.3 rating after throwing three interceptions and losing a fumble for a touchdown in a 14-10 home loss to the Dolphins. "What we do with it from here remains to be seen. It won't be any easier."

Bears 27, Cowboys 20Jay Cutler overcame several early hard hits to throw three touchdown passes.Dallas blew a chance to tie it at 20 when David Buehler badly missed a 44-yard field goal with 7:23 left, and Chicago immediately drove for a lead-extending touchdown.

Bucs 20, Panthers 7Freeman threw for 178 yards and two touchdowns and Tampa Bay moved to 2-0 a year after opening 0-7.

Dolphins 14, Vikings 10Favre had his worst game with Vikings, and Miami stopped Adrian Peterson on fourth-and-goal from the 1 to preserve the victory.Koa Misi recovered Favre's fumble in the end zone for a touchdown and Brian Hartline scored on a 5-yard pass from Chad Henne.

Texans 30, Redskins 27Neil Rackers kicked a 35-yard field goal with 3:24 left in overtime, and Matt Schaub passed for a franchise-record 497 yards for Houston.Schaub completed 38 of 52 passes with three touchdowns and one interception. Andre Johnson had 158 yards receiving and tied a career high with 12 catches. Kevin Walter caught 11 passes for 144 yards.

Chiefs 16, Browns 14Brandon Flowers returned an interception for a score, Ryan Succop kicked three field goals and Kansas City converted a late fourth-down gamble by coach Todd Haley.

Falcons 41, Cardinals 7Matt Ryan matched a career high with three touchdown passes, and third-string running back Jason Snelling rushed for 129 yards and scored three times for Atlanta (1-1).Snelling took over after the top two backs, Michael Turner and Jerious Norwood, went out with injuries. Ryan threw for 225 yards.

Colts 38, Giants 14Peyton Manning threw for three touchdowns in easily outplaying younger brother Eli.In the second NFL meeting of siblings as starting quarterbacks, Peyton got lots of help from his running game and a Colts defense that was overrun last week against Houston. Joseph Addai rushed for 92 yards, Donald Brown added 69 and Indianapolis (1-1) forced Eli Manning to fumble twice, resulting in 14 points.

Jets 28, Patriots 14Mark Sanchez threw a career-high three touchdown passes, including two in the second half, and the Jets held on despite losing Darrelle Revis.Six days after an awful outing in the opener against Baltimore, the Jets' offense was impressive as Sanchez completed a career-high 21 passes on 30 attempts for 220 yards and connected with Braylon Edwards, Jerricho Cotchery and Dustin Keller for scores.

Packers 34, Bills 7Clay Matthews had three sacks to lead Green Bay's dominant defense and Aaron Rodgers threw for two TDs and scrambled for another. Rodgers threw for 255 yards, with touchdowns to Donald Driver and James Jones. He also ran 9 yards for a score.

Eagles 35, Lions 32Michael Vick threw two touchdown passes in the first half in his first start in four years, and Philadelphia (1-1) held off a late rally.LeSean McCoy gave the Eagles an 18-point lead with his third score with 6:17 left. The Lions (0-2) pulled within three points and recovered an onside kick with 1:50 left, but turned the ball over on downs without gaining a yard.

Bengals 15, Ravens 10Mike Nugent kicked a career-high five field goals, two of them in the closing minutes.Cincinnati (1-1) won the division by going 6-0 for the first time in franchise history. Nugent extended the Bengals' streak of division wins to a club-record eight.

Chargers 38, Jaguars 13Philip Rivers threw for 334 yards and three touchdowns and the Chargers (1-1) forced six turnovers by the Jaguars (1-1). Rookie running back Ryan Mathews hurt his right ankle in the second quarter and didn't return.

Broncos 31, Seahawks 14Kyle Orton threw for 307 yards and two TDs, and top draft pick Demaryius Thomas caught eight passes for 97 yards and a touchdown against Seattle (1-1).

Raiders 16, Rams 14Bruce Gradkowski replaced an ineffective Jason Campbell after halftime and led the Raiders to three scoring drives.

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