SEATTLE – All season, the Seattle Seahawks listed as their first goal winning the NFC West. Mission accomplished. Barely.

Matt Hasselbeck threw two touchdown passes and got another TD on a sneak, leading the Seahawks to a 28-26 win over the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday as Seattle won the division and earned a first-round playoff game at home.

The Seahawks (9-7) barely avoided another late meltdown. Warrick Dunn was stopped on a 2-point conversion attempt that would have forced overtime. Reserve quarterback Matt Schaub threw a 3-yard TD pass to Brian Finneran as time expired.

Coach Jim Mora vowed to treat this like a playoff game and said Michael Vick would play. But he didn’t say how much Vick would play, and that turned out to be just over one quarter.

Saints 21, Panthers 18

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Masters of the late-season flop, the New Orleans Saints finally won a game that mattered.

Then they had to wait to see just how much it mattered.

Needing to beat the Carolina Panthers to stay in playoff contention, the Saints did their part with a 21-18 victory on Sunday. But they needed outside help to get in, and failed to get it. Halfway across the country, the St. Louis Rams beat the New York Jets 32-29 in overtime, ending the season for the Saints.

Aaron Brooks passed for 216 yards and threw a 44-yard touchdown pass to Joe Horn, and the Saints (8-8) forced three turnovers and used relentless pressure on Jake Delhomme, sacking him six times.

Packers 31, Bears 14

CHICAGO – Brett Favre’s short work day was a productive one.

Favre and the Green Bay Packers warmed up for the playoffs Sunday with a convincing 31-14 win over the Chicago Bears. Green Bay (10-6), the third seed in the NFC, will host a playoff game next weekend at Lambeau Field.

Favre played the first quarter and one series in the second, going 9-of-13 for 196 yards and two touchdowns as the Packers beat the Bears (5-11) for the 21st time in the last 26 meetings – including 11 straight on the road.

Redskins 21, Vikings 18

LANDOVER, Md. – The Minnesota Vikings collapsed again, only to fall into the playoffs thanks to a safety net provided by the New Orleans Saints.

Thwarted by an undermanned but swarming defense and their own mistakes, the Vikings wilted for the second year in a row with a chance to clinch a postseason berth in the season finale. They lost 21-18 to the Washington Redskins on Sunday, then retreated to the locker room to learn that they had backed in to the playoffs.

The Vikings finished 8-8, losing seven of their last 10 games after a 5-1 start. Last year, they fell from 6-0 to 9-7 and were eliminated by a touchdown pass on the last play of the season.

Cardinals 12, Bucs 7

TEMPE, Ariz. – Neil Rackers’ leg and Arizona’s defense made the Cardinals a winner in their season finale.

Rackers kicked four field goals and the Cardinals stifled Chris Simms and the rest of the Tampa Bay offense for a 12-7 victory Sunday in a matchup of two sputtering teams out of playoff contention.

Coach Jon Gruden’s team lost its fourth in a row to finish 5-11, Tampa Bay’s worst record since going 5-11 under Sam Wyche in 1993.

Giants 28, Cowboys 24

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Tiki Barber became the New York Giants’ all-time leading rusher and capped his achievement with a winning flair.

Barber capped a record-setting Sunday night by scoring on a 3-yard run with 11 seconds to play, leading the Giants to a 28-24 victory over the Dallas Cowboys in a wild finale to the NFL regular season.

Eli Manning also threw three touchdown passes as the Giants (6-10) snapped an eight-game losing streak and gave new coach Tom Coughlin something to savor heading into the offseason.

The late heroics providing Manning his first career victory and spoiled a great effort by Cowboys quarterback Vinny Testaverde in what might have been the final game of his 18-year career.

Testaverde threw for a touchdown and engineered a late 80-yard march that set up Julius Jones’ go-ahead 1-yard run with 1:49 to play. But the Cowboys (6-10) couldn’t hold on.

The Giants recovered their own fumble on the ensuing kickoff and drove 66 yards in six plays for the winning touchdown, added by a 15-yard roughing-the-passer penalty on the first play, a 23-yard pass to Barber.

Barber set Giants single-season and career rushing records in the game, surpassing marks held by Rodney Hampton and Joe Morris, respectively. He also wound up leading the league in all-purpose yards this season.