Rams Blow Chance With Loss to Cardinals

The NFC West is so bad that a team with a losing record could win it -- even the Arizona Cardinals.

The St. Louis Rams had a chance to take control of the league’s worst division Sunday, but they fell flat in a 31-7 loss to the Cardinals at Tempe, Ariz.

Josh McCown threw for two touchdowns and ran for two more and the Cardinals ended a four-game losing streak.

McCown, starting his second game since being benched for three, completed 22 of 34 passes for 287 yards and no interceptions. He had touchdown passes of eight and four yards to Larry Fitzgerald, and touchdown runs of one and nine yards.

A victory would have moved the Rams into first place in the division, since St. Louis has the tiebreaker edge with two wins over Seattle. Instead, the Rams fell to 6-8, only one game ahead of the Cardinals (5-9), who improbably are still alive.

“We didn’t see this coming,” Ram receiver Torry Holt said. “If there was any game on the schedule that we felt confident about coming in and winning, it would be Arizona.”

If Arizona wins its last two, and Seattle and St. Louis go 0-2, the Cardinals would take the division title at 7-9.

With quarterback Marc Bulger out because of a shoulder injury, 39-year-old Chris Chandler lasted only one quarter for the Rams before he was replaced by Jamie Martin.

Coach Mike Martz put much of the blame on Chandler, saying the veteran quarterback threw the ball on a rushing play on the first series and made elementary mistakes.

“It’s tragic for this football team, for that position to hold this whole football team hostage,” Martz said, “but that’s where we are.”

Oakland 40, Tennessee 35 -- Kerry Collins threw for 371 yards and matched his career high with five touchdown passes at Oakland.

Although Billy Volek had the second-best passing day in franchise history with 492 yards and threw for four touchdowns, the Titan defense gave up big plays all afternoon.

Drew Bennett established a career high with 13 receptions (for 160 yards), tying the Titan franchise record for catches.

Collins had five touchdown passes for the first time since his New York Giants beat Minnesota in the NFC championship game Jan. 14, 2001. The last time a Raider quarterback passed for five was Rich Gannon against Carolina on Dec. 24, 2000.

New Orleans 21, Tampa Bay 17 -- Aaron Brooks threw two touchdown passes in the last four minutes, including a seven-yarder to Donte’ Stallworth with 32 seconds left at Tampa, Fla., to keep the Saints’ playoff hopes alive. The Buccaneers (5-9) became the first team to win the Super Bowl and then post consecutive losing records the next two seasons.

Houston 24, Chicago 5 -- The Texans (6-8) gave up the lowest point total for a game in their three-year history and got four turnovers to beat the Bears (5-9) at Chicago. David Carr threw a touchdown pass to Corey Bradford and also set up a field goal with a 69-yard pass play to Jabar Gaffney. Domanick Davis scored on an 11-yard run in the fourth quarter, and Charlie Anderson capped the victory by returning a fumble 60 yards for a touchdown with 2:37 left.