NFL Winners and Losers: This i...

The Dallas Cowboys are a legitimate Super Bowl contender. It's on a short list if they don't have the greatest defense in the league.

However, the Cowboys have no idea what to do with Trevor Lawrence on Sunday.

When it appeared that the Cowboys had finally gotten the one play they needed, they had to feel relieved. Lawrence fumbled the ball at the conclusion of a good run, and the Cowboys recovered it with a three-point advantage and fewer than two minutes left in regulation. The Dallas offense then failed to generate a first down. When the Cowboys punted, it seemed as if Lawrence would drive the Jacksonville Jaguars down for a tie.

That's what great quarterbacks do; they put fear into any defense, even the good ones. Lawrence's laser pass in between the arms of Cowboys safety Donovan Wilson found Zay Jones for enough yards to get the Jaguars into field-goal range, and Riley Patterson hit a 48-yarder to tie it as time expired in regulation.

Here are the rest of the winners and losers from Week 15 of the NFL season:

WINNERS

Cincinnati Bengals after halftime: The Bengals looked miserable and hopeless for the first half against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Then, suddenly, it changed.

The Bengals went from trailing 17-0 in the second quarter to scoring 34 straight points in a huge win over the Buccaneers. The 34-23 win, along with the Baltimore Ravens’ loss on Saturday, means the Bengals are in first place in the AFC North at 10-4.

The Buccaneers were terrible after halftime. They turned it over on four straight possessions (after turning it over on downs with a botched fake punt) and let the Bengals back in the game. The Bengals scored three straight touchdowns off of three of the Bucs’ turnovers. It was an incredible meltdown. The Bengals will take it.

Justin Herbert: The Los Angeles Chargers quarterback won't start to get his proper due until his team makes the playoffs.

On Sunday, Herbert and the Chargers took a huge step toward the postseason.

After the Tennessee Titans tied the Chargers in the final minute, Herbert made a great 35-yard pass on the move to Mike Williams. That set up the game-winning field goal in the final seconds and the Chargers won 17-14. The win, along with Week 15 losses by the Ravens, Patriots, Jets and Dolphins, put the Chargers in pretty good position to make the playoffs. That would be pretty big for Herbert, who is already one of the NFL's best quarterbacks but hasn't had the team success to match his production.

Jalen Hurts: He had a rough start Sunday. He threw two interceptions. The Philadelphia Eagles were surprisingly in a tight game against the Chicago Bears.

Eventually, Hurts got it done. Hurts scored three rushing touchdowns and the Eagles improved to 13-1 with a 25-20 win over the Bears.

Hurts' first touchdown came when a huge lane opened up for him on a Bears blitz. He rushed in for a pretty easy 22-yard touchdown. He scored a pair of 1-yard touchdowns after that. Hurts also threw for 303 yards.

And Patrick Mahomes, too: The MVP race should be fun the rest of the way.

The Kansas City Chiefs struggled to beat the Houston Texans despite being big favorites, but Mahomes wouldn't let the Chiefs lose.

Mahomes completed 36 of 41 passes for 336 yards, two passing touchdowns and a rushing touchdown, and after a Texans fumble in overtime, Jerick McKinnon walked it off with a 26-yard rushing touchdown. It wasn't the best win the Chiefs have had, but the 30-24 victory was a huge one in the race for the AFC's top seed.

Mitchell Trubisky: He took the fall for the Pittsburgh Steelers' struggles early this season. He didn't play well, but it wasn't all his fault the Steelers struggled. And it was also inevitable that rookie Kenny Pickett would take over as the starter at some point.

Trubisky got a second shot and he delivered Sunday. Trubisky played well against a better-than-you-think Carolina Panthers defense in a 24-16 win. A field goal with a little more than a minute to go sealed the win. Trubisky completed 17 of 22 passes for 179 yards.

LOSERS

Bill Belichick: We praise Belichick because the New England Patriots rarely make the dumb play to beat themselves.

On Sunday, the Patriots made one of the dumbest plays ever to lose a game.

The Patriots were in a tie game with the Las Vegas Raiders on the final play of regulation when they inexplicably started the desperate lateral play you see from teams that need a touchdown and have one last play to do it. Rhamondre Stevenson lateraled to Jakobi Meyers, who threw the ball far back to toward quarterback Mac Jones. That was a really bad decision. When Raiders edge rusher Chandler Jones picked off that errant lateral, all he had to do was break Jones' tackle attempt and run to the end zone. The Raiders won 30-24.

Everyone who watched Broncos-Cardinals: For those in the Arizona and Colorado markets, we’re sorry.

The Arizona Cardinals and Denver Broncos locked up in a bad football game on Sunday. Brett Rypien and Colt McCoy started. Trace McSorley came in for Arizona when McCoy suffered a concussion and the game got even worse. Both offenses were fairly miserable.

The Broncos won 24-15. Let’s never discuss it again.

New York Jets defense: The Jets' defense had to know that with Zach Wilson back at quarterback, it had to win Sunday's game. Wilson then played pretty well. And the Jets' defense couldn't close the door.

Detroit Lions tight end Brock Wright caught a short pass on fourth-and-inches and was all alone. He ran 51 yards for a go-ahead touchdown just inside the two-minute warning. Then Greg Zuerlein's 58-yard field-goal attempt missed as time expired, and the Lions had a huge 20-17 win.

A once-promising Atlanta Falcons season: There was a time when the Falcons were a feel-good story. They were 4-4 after an overtime win over the Carolina Panthers. That wasn't great, but you don't need to be great in the 2022 NFC South.

Then the wheels fell off.

The Falcons have lost five of six. Sunday's loss was particularly cruel. They were battling the New Orleans Saints with rookie quarterback Desmond Ridder taking over the offense. Ridder wasn't good but the Falcons were in the game. Then Drake London lost a fumble just before the two-minute warning, with the Falcons driving for at least a game-tying field goal. The Saints held on for the 21-18 win.