Detroit ties an NFL record with its 23rd consecutive road loss.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – While the Kansas City Chiefs won the AFC West, the Detroit Lions sadly made history.

Priest Holmes scored three touchdowns and Trent Green passed for 341 yards and three more TDs in a 45-17 victory Sunday that gave Kansas City its first title in six years. It also handed the Lions their NFL record-tying 23rd straight road loss.

The Lions (4-10) have not won away from home since beating the New York Jets 10-7 in the next-to-last game of 2000. They can surpass the record they now share with the Houston Oilers of the early 1980s at Carolina next week.

Rebounding from a 45-27 loss at Denver, the Chiefs scored on seven first-half possessions, failing on the eighth only when Morten Andersen was short on a 48-yard field goal.

Holmes’ scoring runs of 14, 9 and 3 yards ran his season total to 22, just three short of the NFL record held by Emmitt Smith. He needs four TDs rushing or receiving in his last two games to catch the record set by Marshall Faulk in 1999.

Green was 20-for-25 and his quarterback rating of 158.3 matched Peyton Manning for the only perfect rating this season.

The Chiefs’ scoring drives in the first half covered 264 yards on 26 plays while going to third down only twice.

Dante Hall, trying for his NFL-record fifth touchdown kick return, got past everybody but kicker Jason Hanson on the second-half kickoff. His 46-yard return set up a 46-yard drive that Holmes capped with a 3-yard run for a 35-10 lead and his team-record 22nd TD rushing.

Bengals 41, 49ers 38

CINCINNATI – Rudi Johnson rambled, Chad Johnson celebrated, and the Bengals won a game like no other in their history.

Chad Johnson caught the first of Jon Kitna’s two touchdown passes, and Rudi Johnson ran for 174 yards and two more scores in a 41-38 victory Sunday that kept the Bengals in playoff contention and the San Francisco 49ers winless on the road.

The Bengals (8-6) took advantage of three costly 49ers fumbles, putting the game in the hands of their two same-named players – one of them a showboat, the other a season-saver.

Chad Johnson mugged for the cameras with a preprinted sign after his 10-yard touchdown catch, a display of one-upmanship. All 49ers receiver Terrell Owens could do after his later touchdown was flip some snow at the fans.

Rudi Johnson, who has kept the ground game rolling while Corey Dillon fights through a groin injury, scored two touchdowns in the second half. For the first time in their 36-year history, the Bengals gave up 38 points but won.

It was sickeningly familiar to the 49ers (6-8), who have lost all seven road games this season because of mistakes and defensive lapses. Jeff Garcia led them to three fourth-quarter touchdowns, including Kevan Barlow’s 3-yard run with 1:13 to go.

Rudi Johnson recovered the onside kick, allowing the Bengals to run out the clock.

Bucs 16, Texans 3

TAMPA, Fla. – Thanks to their first two-game winning streak of the season, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will cling to slim playoffs hopes for at least another week.

The Super Bowl champions dominated the Houston Texans 16-3 Sunday to get back to .500 for the first time in six weeks, as well as remain among six teams in contention for two NFC wild-card berths.

Thomas Jones ran for 134 yards and a touchdown in his second start for the Bucs (7-7), who have won three of four since ending a three-game skid that left them in danger of missing the postseason for the first time since 1998.

Jones, who’s trying to jumpstart his career after three disappointing seasons in Arizona, scored on an 18-yard run in the first quarter. Martin Gramatica added field goals of 36, 23 and 26 yards for Tampa Bay.

The Bucs defense played without All-Pro tackle Warren Sapp, but didn’t miss a beat in limiting Houston (5-9) to just 107 yards. The Texans avoided being shut out for the second straight game with Kris Brown’s 38-yard field goal in the third quarter.

The win capped another tumultuous week for the Bucs, who are on the verge of losing general manager Rich McKay because of his differences with coach Jon Gruden.

The defending champs still face an uphill battle to get back to the playoffs. Five other teams also are in contention, and Tampa Bay will have to win remaining games against Atlanta and Tennessee, plus gets lots of outside help to earn a berth.

Houston played for the second straight week without injured quarterback David Carr and is still looking for its first touchdown with rookie Dave Ragone running the offense. The Texans were held to 124 yards in a 27-0 loss at Jacksonville.

Packers 38, Chargers 21

SAN DIEGO – It was practically a day at the beach for Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers.

Favre threw a season-high four touchdown passes and joined Ahman Green and kicker Ryan Longwell in setting franchise records in a 38-21 win over the San Diego Chargers that kept the Packers alive in the NFC North title race.

Favre threw three TD passes in the fourth quarter after the Packers fell behind the Chargers (3-11).

LaDainian Tomlinson gave the Chargers a 21-17 lead with a spectacular 68-yard catch-and-run with 12:10 to go, when he caught a short pass from Drew Brees and zigzagged through the secondary and into the open field.

But Favre has considerable experience at comebacks and erased that lead 52 seconds later. Najeh Davenport returned the kickoff 45 yards to the Chargers’ 42 and Favre threw a 40-yard TD to Robert Ferguson two plays later. With Longwell’s record-setting PAT, the Packers led 24-21.

Favre added a 1-yard TD pass to Green one play after San Diego’s Drew Brees was sacked and fumbled, and a 16-yarder to Ferguson with 3:58 to play for a 38-21 lead.

Favre was 23-of-33 for 278 yards. Donald Driver had eight catches for 112 yards and one score.

There were five touchdowns in the fourth quarter, including four in the first 6:23.

Green broke the oldest team single-season rushing record in the NFL, eclipsing Hall of Famer Jim Taylor’s mark of 1,474 yards set in 1962. Green rushed for 75 yards and one touchdown on 19 carries, plus the TD catch.

Green needed 12 yards coming in to break Taylor’s record, and he got them all, and more, on the opening drive. He broke Taylor’s record on a 9-yard run to the Chargers 4, then scored on the next play.

With two games left, Green has 1,538 yards.

Favre threw at least one TD pass in his 23rd straight game to set the franchise mark. He had been tied with Cecil Isbell, who threw TD passes in 22 straight games during the 1941-42 seasons.

And Longwell had eight points to break Don Hutson’s career scoring record. Longwell got his 824th career point on a PAT following Ferguson’s 40-yard touchdown catch. Hutson had 823 points in his Hall of Fame career.

Longwell finished with five PATs and a 32-yard field goal, for 826 career points.

As a bonus, thousands of Cheeseheads in the crowd chanted “Go, Pack, Go!” during the game.

Brees, coming off a five-game benching, threw for a career-high 363 yards, completing 28 of 48 passes. But he also was intercepted once and lost two fumbles.

Tomlinson caught 11 passes for 144 yards two TDs, and carried 20 times for 51 yards. A week earlier, he caught nine passes for 148 yards and two TDs in a 14-7 win at Detroit.

Favre’s first TD pass came when he hit Donald Driver for 7 yards for a 17-3 lead with 33 seconds left before halftime. It took Favre just 44 seconds to move the Packers 70 yards in seven plays. The drive was set up when Darren Sharper intercepted Brees after the Chargers had moved inside the Packers’ 20.

Brees pulled the Chargers to 17-14 on a 7-yard TD pass to Tomlinson on the first play of the fourth quarter, then threw to David Boston for a 2-point conversion.

AP-ES-12-14-03 1954EST