Rams keep Super Bowl dreams alive

St Louis Rams running back Marshall Faulk broke Emmitt Smith's National Football League record for touchdowns in a season as the Super Bowl champions squeezed into the play-offs with a victory over New Orleans.  

Making a final claim for NFL MVP honours, Faulk scored three touchdowns to lead the Rams to a 26-21 victory over the Saints in the regular season finale.

Their reward is another meeting with New Orleans in the post-season.

The three touchdowns gave Faulk a league record 26, surpassing the 25 set by Smith for the Dallas Cowboys in 1995.

Despite Faulk's heroics, the Rams (10-6) still needed the lowly Chicago Bears to beat the Detroit Lions to clinch the lone remaining NFC play-off berth.

Their prayers were answered when rookie kicker Paul Edinger kicked a 54-yard field goal with two seconds left, lifting the Bears to a 23-20 upset of the Lions as the Rams walked off the field.

The Rams and New Orleans (10-6) finished joint top of the NFC West, but the Saints won the title on the basis of a better division record.

Next weekend, the teams will meet again in the wild card round.

How could the Saints want to see Faulk again? He carried the ball 32 times and scored on runs of nine and one yard. He also caught seven passes for 41 yards, including a 13-yard touchdown.

"They came out here and ran the ball on us, something I didn't think they were going to do," said Saints defensive tackle Norman Hand. "We just didn't tackle well. You have to give them credit."

Despite missing two games and undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery, Faulk finished with 1,359 yards rushing and 18 touchdowns and 81 receptions for 830 yards and eight scores for the season.

"The individual achievements are great, but making the play-offs and having a chance to win another Super Bowl is what it's all about," Faulk said.

The Rams' victory eliminated Green Bay from play-off contention, but the Packers showed that play-off bound Tampa Bay still have to find a way to win in wintery weather.

Thanks to their inability to win in the cold, the Buccaneers will start the post-season on the road after Ryan Longwell kicked a 22-yard field goal 6:31 into overtime, giving the Packers a 17-14 victory.

Tampa Bay's defeat also handed Minnesota the NFC Central title, even though the Vikings fell 31-10 to Indianapolis, who took advantage of the opening left by the New York Jets' defeat earlier in the day to barge into the AFC play-offs.

Miami captured the hard-fought AFC East crown with a 27-24 victory over New England, while Oakland claimed the AFC West with a 52-9 rout of Carolina.

The Philadelphia Eagles completed their remarkable turnaround and warmed up for the post-season with a lacklustre 16-7 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals.

In other games on Sunday, Atlanta defeated Kansas City 29-13, Washington beat Arizona 20-3, and Pittsburgh downed San Diego 21-34.