MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) 鈥 The Packers, beneficiaries of results from Christmas Eve games, did their part by beating the Dolphins 26-20 on Sunday.
Green Bay (7-8) overcame a 10-point second-quarter deficit, intercepted Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa three times and scored 16 unanswered points to close the gap on the final NFC wild-card berth.
Green Bay still needs additional help to overtake Washington (7-7-1), but finished December with three consecutive wins.
"I don鈥檛 think we鈥檝e struggled with confidence but definitely haven鈥檛 had a lot of believers outside of the locker room, I don't think, so maybe this will give us a couple on the bandwagon,鈥 Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers said.
鈥淏ut we鈥檝e been in a good rhythm, practice energy, cohesion and been playing a little bit better complementary football.鈥
The Packers finish the regular season with home games against NFC North champion Minnesota and a 7-8 Detroit team that's also in pursuit of the playoffs, though the Lions' loss to Carolina on Saturday helped Green Bay gain ground.
By winning out, the Packers also would eliminate Seattle (7-8) because of a better conference record if both ended at 9-8.
鈥淲e鈥檝e just got to win,鈥 said Packers defensive back Rasul Douglas, whose final interception of Tagovailoa with under two minutes sealed the win. 鈥淣ot too far looking at everybody doing what they鈥檙e supposed to do, we know it鈥檚 all on us.鈥
Meanwhile, the Dolphins closed December winless 鈥 a major shift from five weeks ago, when the Dolphins (8-7) shared the AFC East lead with the Buffalo Bills. Four straight losses has Miami barely grasping to the third AFC wild-card spot.
But the Dolphins also have benefited from others' losses: Division rival New England (7-8) has lost two straight and the New York Jets (7-8) are on a four-game slide.
The Dolphins will visit the Patriots on Sunday and conclude the regular season at home against the Jets on Jan. 8.
鈥淚 would say it鈥檚 easy to keep the confidence up with this group,鈥 Tagovailoa said. 鈥淲e all believe in each other. We all love one another. We鈥檙e all invested into each other. I don鈥檛 think it鈥檚 a time for us to blink. We just move on and we learn from it. We have another tough team to go and play.鈥
Even with a win against New England, the Dolphins are not assured a playoff berth. If the Jets win at Seattle on Sunday, they can clinch the final spot with a victory over Miami on Jan. 8. The Jets would eliminate Miami by sweeping their two division games.
鈥淣othing鈥檚 really changed moving forward except for the fact we are expecting to cleanse ourselves of this feeling,鈥 Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to have to wait another week to try to get it right.鈥
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