Not even three-time Super Bowl champion Patrick Mahomes was immune to the colossal comebacks that defined Week 5 in the NFL.
Trevor Lawrence rallied Jacksonville from a 14-0 deficit and scored the winning touchdown after getting stepped on by his right guard, falling back down, getting back up, slipping a tackle and diving into the end zone to give the Jaguars a wild 31-28 win over the mistake-prone Kansas City Chiefs on Monday night.
“It (stinks) when you get a lead like that and you're not able to hold it throughout the rest of the game,” Mahomes said after the Chiefs, who went 11-0 in one-score games last season, fell to 0-3 in such games this season.
The Eagles, Cardinals, Dolphins, Giants and Chargers knew exactly how Mahomes felt.
They also let double-digit leads slip away in Week 5 when a record-tying six teams lost after leading by double digits.
The six-pack of double-digit comebacks — or pratfalls, if you prefer — marked the sixth week in NFL history in which a half dozen teams had comeback wins after trailing by double digits.
It also happened in 1984, 1999, 2002, 2011 and 2013.
The Chiefs had been 62-4 in games with Mahomes at QB after leading by 14-plus points and their loss at Jacksonville snapped a 23-game winning streak in which they led by 14 or more points, dating to the 2021 AFC championship.
The Jaguars joined the Broncos, Commanders, Panthers, Titans and Saints in roaring back after falling behind big.
The Broncos handed the reigning Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles their first loss by overcoming a 17-3 deficit with 18 unanswered points in the fourth quarter. Denver improved to 2-112 on the road when entering the fourth quarter trailing by 14-plus points.
Cam Ward got his first career win by rallying the Titans back from a 18-point deficit to beat Arizona 22-21.
The Panthers overcome a 17-point deficit to beat Miami 27-24; the Saints overcome an 11-point deficit to beat the New York Giants 26-14 and the Commanders clawed back from a 10-point hole by scoring 27 unanswered points against the Chargers.
Another defining moment in the Jaguars' comeback aside from Lawrence's eventful game-winning touchdown run was linebacker Devin Lloyd's 99-yard pick-six that broke a 14-14 tie.
Lloyd jumped the route at the 1 and eluded a diving Mahomes at the Jacksonville 12 on his way down the sideline to the end zone for the longest play in the NFL so far this season.
The Chiefs fell to 2-3. They didn't suffer their third loss last year until they were walloped 40-22 by the Eagles in the Super Bowl.
The wacky weekend began with San Francisco's 26-23 overtime win against the Los Angeles Rams on Thursday night — which featured an early 14-0 lead for the 49ers before the Rams made a game of it.
The NHL's Colorado Avalanche were in town and donned Rams jerseys for a group picture before the game, which didn't sit well with sports fans in Denver.
The photo op might make business sense — Stan Kroenke owns the Rams and Avalanche along with the NBA's Denver Nuggets — but it was a public relations landmine considering the social media backlash it engendered.
“To be honest, I understand it,” Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog said Monday. "Colorado fans are passionate. To me, I didn't watch the NFL until I came here in 2011. The Broncos are my team. That'll never change.
“But when the big boss invites you to come watch the Rams game and the way he took care of us there, you know it is a special bond for us to be a part of not just of the Avs and the Nuggets and the Mammoth but to be a part of the broader Kroenke Sports family, you know, the Rams and (soccer club) Arsenal overseas, it's special,” Landeskog added.
“It was really a cool experience. Who would turn that down?" Landeskog said, adding, “for one night I think you can cheer on a team and it doesn't change how you feel about whoever your primary team is.”
This NFL-NHL fashion faux pas brought to mind Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud, who caught flack in August for wearing a Seattle Mariners cap before and after a preseason game against Carolina.
“I love hats,” Stroud explained back in August. “I probably have every team. But I support the Astros and the Dodgers — because I'm from L.A. ... but it's all about the swag, baby!”
With contributions from AP Pro Football Writer Josh Dubow.
Behind the Call analyzes the biggest topics in the NFL during the season.
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes warms up before an NFL football game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Monday, Oct. 6, 2025, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)
Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence (16) runs for a touchdown during the second half of an NFL football game against the Kansas City Chiefs, Monday, Oct. 6, 2025, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel’s Cabinet has approved a proposal for 19 new Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, the far-right finance minister said Sunday, as the government pushes ahead with a construction binge in the territory that further threatens the possibility of a Palestinian state.
That brings the total number of new settlements over the past few years to 69, a new record, according to Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who has pushed a settlement expansion agenda in the West Bank. The latest ones include two that were previously evacuated during a 2005 disengagement plan.
The approval increases the number of settlements in the West Bank by nearly 50% during the current far-right government’s tenure. In 2022, there were 141 settlements across the West Bank. After the latest approval, there are 210, according to Peace Now, an anti-settlement watchdog group.
Settlements are widely considered illegal under international law. Smotrich's office said the Cabinet approval came on Dec. 11 and that the development had been classified until now.
The approval comes as the U.S. pushes Israel and Hamas to move ahead with the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire, which took effect Oct. 10. The U.S.-brokered plan calls for a possible “pathway” to a Palestinian state, something the settlements are aimed at preventing.
The Cabinet decision included a retroactive legalization of some previously established settlement outposts or neighborhoods of existing settlements, and the creation of settlements on land where Palestinians were evacuated, the Finance Ministry said. Settlements can range in size from a single dwelling to a collection of high-rises.
The ministry said two of the settlements legalized in the latest approval are Kadim and Ganim, which were two of the four West Bank settlements dismantled in 2005, as part of Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. There have been multiple attempts to resettle them after Israel’s government in March 2023 repealed a 2005 act that evacuated the four outposts and barred Israelis from reentering the areas.
Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza — areas claimed by the Palestinians for a future state — in the 1967 war. It has settled over 500,000 Jews in the West Bank, in addition to over 200,000 in contested east Jerusalem.
Israel’s government is dominated by far-right proponents of the settler movement, including Smotrich and Cabinet Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who oversees the nation’s police force.
Settler expansion has been compounded by a surge of attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank in recent months.
During October’s olive harvest, settlers across the territory launched an average of eight attacks daily, the most since the United Nations humanitarian office began collecting data in 2006. The attacks continued in November, with the U.N. recording at least 136 more by Nov. 24.
Settlers burned cars, desecrated mosques, ransacked industrial plants and destroyed cropland. Israeli authorities have done little beyond issuing occasional condemnations of the violence.
The Palestinian Health Ministry in Ramallah said two Palestinians, including a 16-year-old, were killed in clashes with Israel's military on Saturday night in the northern part of the West Bank.
Israel's military said a militant was shot and killed after he threw a block at troops in Qabatiya, and another militant was killed after he hurled explosives at troops operating in the town of Silat al-Harithiya.
The Palestinian Health Ministry identified the Palestinian killed in Qabatiya as 16-year-old Rayan Abu Muallah. Palestinian media aired brief security footage of the incident, where the youth appears to emerge from an alley and is shot by troops as he approaches them without throwing anything. Israel's military said the incident is under review.
The Health Ministry identified the second man as Ahmad Ziyoud, 22.
Israel’s military has scaled up military operations in the West Bank since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack that triggered the war in Gaza.
The top Catholic leader in the Holy Land visited Gaza’s only Catholic church and celebrated a pre-Christmas Mass on Sunday that included the baptism of a baby. Dozens of Palestinians gathered in the Holy Family Parish.
Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa is on his fourth visit to Gaza since the war began, and said the Christian community aims to be a “stable, solid reference point in this sea of destruction” as rebuilding slowly begins.
“It is different this time,” Pizzaballa said. “I saw the new desire for a new life.”
The Holy Family compound was hit by fragments from an Israeli shell in July, killing three people in what Israel called an accident and expressed regret over. The parish has served as a refuge for Christians and Muslims, sheltering hundreds of displaced people.
There was a mix of gratitude and grief as people at the church marked Christmas away from home. “They welcomed us with great love and respect,” said Nazih Lam’e Habashi, 78, who stays there with his family. “This is the third holiday we are marking since the war."
“God willing, life will improve," added 67-year-old Najla Saba.
Find more of AP’s Israel-Hamas coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
A nun holds a baby as she walks to attend Christmas Eve Mass at the Holy Family Catholic Church in Gaza City, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, leads a Christmas Eve Mass at the Holy Family Catholic Church in Gaza City, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, leads a Christmas Eve Mass at the Holy Family Catholic Church in Gaza City, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, left, leads a Christmas Eve Mass at the Holy Family Catholic Church in Gaza City, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
Palestinian mother of Ahmad Ziyoud, draped in the flag of the Islamic Jihad militant group, mourns during his funeral in Silat al-Harithiya, near Jenin, in the West Bank, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammad)
Palestinian men carry Ahmad Ziyoud, draped in the flag of the Islamic Jihad militant group, during his funeral in Silat al-Harithiya, near Jenin, in the West Bank, Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammad)
