CHICAGO – While Rex Grossman showed poise and promise in his NFL debut for the Chicago Bears, fellow rookie Charles Tillman saved the day against the Minnesota Vikings.

Tillman leaped in the corner of the end zone and took a pass out of Randy Moss’ hands, intercepting Daunte Culpepper with 1:02 left Sunday to preserve the Bears’ 13-10 victory over the Vikings.

Minnesota (8-6) lost a chance to move closer to the NFC North title after its final drive was turned away.

Culpepper drove the Vikings from their 11 to the Chicago 8 in the closing minutes with two passes to Moss and a 37-yard pass to Moe Williams. Two plays later, he lofted the ball to the corner and Tillman went right up with the high-leaping Moss and came down with the ball.

Cowboys 27, Redskins 0

LANDOVER, Md. – Rain, mud and defense, defense, defense. A perfect Bill Parcells recipe to get the Dallas Cowboys back on track.

Rookie Terence Newman tied a team record with three interceptions, Pete Hunter had two fumble recoveries and an interception, and Troy Hambrick ran for a career-high 189 yards Sunday to power the Cowboys to a 27-0 victory over the Washington Redskins.

It was the first shutout in the Cowboys-Redskins rivalry in 32 years and the first time Washington coach Steve Spurrier has been held scoreless in a regular season game since he was with Duke in 1987.

The Redskins also hadn’t been shut out at home in 10 years.

Dallas’ defense held quarterback Tim Hasselbeck to a rock-bottom 0.0 quarterback rating – 6-for-26 for 56 yards, four interceptions and numerous batted balls at the line of scrimmage.

Rams 27, Seahawks 22

ST. LOUIS – Bottled up all day, Marshall Faulk finally took matters into his own hands, lifting the St. Louis Rams to the NFC West title.

With the Rams ahead by two points, Faulk led a final, clock-killing march that clinched a 27-22 victory over the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday.

Faulk more than doubled his yardage for the first 3 quarters, when he was held to a measly 34 yards on 20 carries, to help the Rams (11-3) clinch their third division championship in five years.

Panthers 20, Cardinals 17

TEMPE, Ariz. – The Carolina Panthers never win anything easily, and that includes the NFC South title they finally clinched Sunday.

John Kasay kicked a 49-yard field goal with 4 seconds to play to give the Panthers a 20-17 victory over the Arizona Cardinals.

Eight of the Panthers’ victories have come in the final two minutes or in overtime.

Arizona’s Neil Rackers, who missed a 35-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter, kicked a 44-yarder with 1:15 to play to tie it at 17-all.

Jake Delhomme, who completed 20 of 32 passes for 236 yards, connected with Steve Smith five times for 41 yards in a 13-play, 44-yard drive to set up the winning field goal.

Second-year quarterback Josh McCown, in his first NFL start, had his first pass returned 35 yards by Mike Minter for a touchdown, then regrouped to direct two time-consuming TD drives and Arizona (3-11) led 14-7 at the half.

McCown scored on a 16-yard run and Emmitt Smith ran 4 yards for his first home touchdown of the season for Arizona, which lost its sixth in a row.

Saints 45, Giants 7

NEW ORLEANS – Saints wide receiver Joe Horn couldn’t wait to spread the word about his big game against the New York Giants.

Horn had four touchdown catches in New Orleans’ 45-7 victory over the Giants. After the second one, he made a call in the end zone on a cell phone hidden in the padding of the goal post.

For the Giants (4-10) it was the sixth straight defeat, further weakening coach Jim Fassel’s hold on his job. New York has been outscored 163-51 during the slide.

AP-ES-12-14-03 2347EST