There have been 24 games to feature a game-winning score in the final two minutes of regulation or in overtime in the opening five weeks of the regular season.

Seven teams – Carolina, Jacksonville, Minnesota, New England, San Francisco, Tampa Bay and Tennessee – accomplished the feat last week.

During week 5, four teams – Tennessee (18 points), Carolina (17), Denver (14) and Jacksonville (14) – completed comebacks of at least 14 points to win.

Denver Broncos (3-2) at New York Jets (0-5)

The second of three straight weeks with a London game features the Denver Broncos and New York Jets at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday.

Denver leads the league with 21 sacks this season and ranks second in scoring defence, allowing 16.8 points per game. Linebacker Nik Bonitto leads the NFL with seven sacks and can become the first player since 2013 to record at least 1.5 sacks in four consecutive games.

The Jets, who played Minnesota last season at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, will become the seventh team to play in London in consecutive seasons, joining Detroit (2014-15), Jacksonville (2013-19, 2021-25), the Los Angeles Rams (2016-17), Miami (2014-15), Minnesota (2024-25) and the Raiders (2018-19).

Detroit Lions (4-1) at Kansas City Chiefs (2-3)

The two clubs will be meeting for the first time since Detroit’s 21-20 win over the defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs in the league’s 2023 Kick-off Game.

Detroit leads the NFL in scoring offence and have scored at least 34 points in each of their past four games. A win today can see them become the fifth team in the Super Bowl era to record at least 34 points in five games within a single season.

Running backs Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery each scored a touchdown last week. It marked the 14th game in which they each have scored a touchdown.

Including the postseason, Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes has 299 touchdown passes in 138 career games. With a touchdown pass on Sunday night, he will surpass Aaron Rodgers (147 games) as the fastest player to 300 career touchdown passes, including the postseason, in NFL history.

Seattle Seahawks (3-2) at Jacksonville Jaguars (4-1) 

Two of the top intercepting defences from the first five weeks of the season will be in action, as Jacksonville leads the league with 10 interceptions and Seattle ranks tied for second with seven.

Jacksonville linebacker Devin Lloyd leads the NFL with four interceptions this season. Last week, he had a 99-yard interception-return for a touchdown against Kansas City, marking the longest regular-season interception-return touchdown by a linebacker in NFL history.

Seattle head coach Mike Macdonald is one of five head coaches all time to win nine of his first 10 road games.

San Francisco 49ers (4-1) and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (4-1)

The 49ers and Buccaneers will meet in Tampa for a fourth straight season.

Eddie Pineiro converted a 41-yard field goal in overtime to lift San Francisco over the Rams, 26-23, while Chase McLaughlin connected on a 39-yard field goal as time expired in regulation to help Tampa Bay win in Seattle, 38-35.

The Buccaneers are looking to begin a season 5-1 or better for the third time in 20 years (2021, 2005), while the 49ers can reach the mark for the third time under head coach Kyle Shanahan (2023, 2019).

In the win over Seattle, quarterback Baker Mayfield became the first player in NFL history to pass for at least 375 yards (379) in a game, with four-or-fewer incompletions (four).

San Francisco running back Christian McCaffrey is the only player with at least 100 scrimmage yards in five games this season. He can become the first running back with least 100 scrimmage yards in each of his team’s first six games of a season since Saquon Barkley in 2018.

Buffalo Bills (4-1) at Atlanta Falcons (2-2) 

The Bills seek to win five of their first six games of a season for the third time under head coach Sean McDermott (2022, 2019), while the Falcons have won seven of their past eight games.

Atlanta running back Bijan Robinson leads the NFL with 146 scrimmage yards per game and Buffalo running back James Cook ranks four among running backs with 107.8 scrimmage yards per game.

Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen is the fifth player in NFL history with a completion percentage of 70-or-higher and multiple touchdown passes in four of his team’s first five games of a season.

Chicago Bears (2-2) at Washington Commanders (3-2) 

Quarterbacks Caleb Williams, the Bears’ No. 1 overall selection in the 2024 NFL Draft, and Jayden Daniels, the Commanders’ No. 2 pick in 2024, are set to meet for the second consecutive season.

Last season, in Week 8, Daniels threw a 52-yard game-winning touchdown to wide receiver Noah Brown as time expired in the fourth quarter to give Washington an 18-15 victory.

Daniels has 4,232 passing yards and 1,015 rushing yards in 20 career games and is the first player in NFL history with at least 4,000 passing yards and 1,000 rushing yards in his first 20 career games.

Chicago wide receiver Rome Odunze was the only player in the NFL with a touchdown reception in each of the first four weeks of the season and can become the first player since Mike Evans in 2020 to record a touchdown reception in each of his team’s first five games of a season.

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Jacksonville Jaguars Head Coach Doug Pederson spoke of his obvious disappointment following this afternoon’s defeat at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Costly mistakes

“Right now, those [mistakes] are things that are plaguing us,” Pederson said. “It’s the mistakes and then being able to overcome the mistake. Those are things that we have to obviously take a look at and correct.

“[I feel} defeated, obviously. I feel for the players and the coaches. We work extremely too hard to be in this position. I feel like the guys, they don’t quit. They keep fighting.

£We have to figure out how to just get out of our way and just play football. I say that, and it sounds easy, but it’s tough. It’s a tough game to play. We didn’t expect to be here in this spot, and, hey, now we have to find a way to get out of it.

When asked what he thought of the performance of his side’s quarterback, the Head Coach admitted:

“He played tough. I mean, he’s just one man obviously, and we’ve got to play better are all-around, everybody, and he included. He knows that. There’s ownership in that. Coaches, the same way. I take full responsibility obviously, but we all need to be better.”

Trevor Lawrence’s reaction

Trevor Lawrence, when asked if he felt the Jaguars lacked focus collectively as a team, responded by saying

“You know, I didn’t sense that. Obviously, the way the game turned out and some critical errors really all the way around would point to that. I felt like we were ready to play. I thought we had a good week. Obviously, everyone deals with the travel over here. Chicago had to do it earlier in the week too. So, I thought even considering that, you know, we had a good plan, good week. I felt like we were ready to go. Then obviously it didn’t go our way. Didn’t make enough plays. Didn’t execute and had just too many mistakes. So, I guess I can’t say that it wasn’t that because I think that definitely can contribute to that, yeah.”

“We’re staying together”

Commenting on whether he felt the team was playing for Head Coach Doug Pederson, the quarterback had no doubt, stating:

“Yeah, that’s our head coach, and we’re a team. This is tough. Losing is hard. It’s hard. So it has nothing to do with that relationship, how we feel about Coach [Pederson]. We’re a group. We’re staying together. We know brighter days are ahead. We just have to keep working, and we have to keep putting our best foot forward. You know, we just have to stick together as a team. We have to play more had complementary. We’re not playing good team football right now. So whatever the answer to that is we have to find it quick. Yeah, no thought of that on my mind.”

Next week is ‘must-win’

On whether next weekend’s London game is a must-win for his side, Head Coach Pederson said:

“I think so. I would say everything here on out, quite frankly. If we want to get back to playing the type of football we know we can play, you’re going to have to win a lot of games moving forward. I would say that, yeah, these games moving forward are just that.

£I think it’s huge for us to be here as a football team, to be around each other, support each other, keep encouraging each other. There’s nowhere for us to go, you know? We’re at the hotel, and we see each other every day. We have to support each other and keep picking each other up.”

The Jacksonville Jaguars Defensive End Josh Hines-Allen admitted that his side needs to get to winning ways as soon as possible.

“We know we have to trust in everybody here, but the urgency needs to pick up, the passion, the love,” Hines-Allen said. “The reason why we do the things that we do need to pick up a little bit more. It starts Tuesday once we get back to practice and focus on the Patriots”

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The game brought the Bears’ international record to three wins from four games, having lost to the LA Raiders 24-21 on their previous visit to Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in October 2019.

Coach pleased with win

Chicago Bears Head Coach Matt Eberflus said after his side’s 35-16 win over the Jaguars:

“The guys did a really good job the whole week working the plans. The coordinators did a nice job of that as well, getting those plans implements so they did a nice job there.

“In terms of the game evaluation, I thought that was really good complementary football during the course of us taking the ball away on defence and scoring those 14 points off of those takeaways. A couple good two-minute drives there, really good two-minute drive there at the half for the offense, and then a four-minute at the end of the game to expire it, waste some time there, and do a good job with that.”

Making progress

Commenting of the progress his side is currently making, Eberflus admitted:

“You make the progress, and you want it to be linear but it’s not always that way. But we feel that he took a step in the right direction, our football team took a step in the right direction of playing that complementary football, and him being able to distribute the football and operate. We ran some no huddle and different things in there where he had to operate there at the line and did a nice job today.”

Brian Thomas, who had an impressive game in this his rookie season, was mentioned by the Head Coach in his post-game interview.

“He’s a heck of a player, he really is,” Eberflus said. “I watched a lot of tape on him during the Draft process and he’s good. He’s fast. He can get the deep ball, and he’s going to have an outstanding career, you know, for himself and for the Jags. He’s exciting to watch, and you know, in terms of the three catches, you know, that’s NFL ball, right.? That’s the way it goes sometimes.”

Big impact from Swift

The big impact of D’Andre Swift in the game was also referenced by Eberflus, who said:

“The big thing about Swift is get him out in space because then he can be electric. I was really pleased how he ran the ball today. I think it was in the fives, and I think their run average was in the low fours, I believe, so.

“It was good in both regards in terms of the average. But you need some explosives, and you have to limit those on defence, and I thought we did that on both sides of the ball today. Again, that’s the perimeter blocking, the line, finishing, everything that they do and playing the way we play.”

With the Bears now having claimed three wins in-a-row, moving to 4-2 for the season, the Head Coach feels his side is going in the right direction:

“I think we are in a good spot, I really do. I think we have got a lot of improvement to do. But for the first six games, I think we are in a good spot, and we have to get our minds and our bodies and everything right to go on to these next six games starting with the first one.”

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The sides meet at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, with a 2.30 pm start time.

Similar to last weekend, when the Minnesota Vikings defeated the New York Jets 23-17, a crowd in excess of 60,000 is expected at today’s game.

It will be the first of consecutive London games for the Jaguars, who will have a ‘home’ game at Wembley next weekend when they host the New England Patriots.

The Chicago Bears come into today’s game with a better start of season record, having three wins and two losses to their name.

Chicago’s rookie quarterback Caleb Williams, who had led his side to wins over the Titans, Rams and Panthers so far this season, is the fourth rookie quarterback since 1950 to win each of his first three home starts and throw no interceptions in each game, joining Matt Ryan (2008), Tua Tagovailoa (2020) and Russell Wilson (2012).

The Bears NFC North division is led by last weekend’s London victors, the unbeaten Minnesota Vikings.

For the Jacksonville franchise it has been a difficult season so far as they have only achieved one victory in five games, that coming last weekend with a 37-34 win over Indianapolis Colts. The Jags currently sit bottom of the AFC South which is currently headed by 4-1 Houston.

2024 is the 16th year London has hosted NFL regular season games.

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