Indianapolis and Chicago make history

UNDEFEATED Indianapolis and once-beaten Chicago made National Football League history Sunday in proving themselves the teams to beat for home-field advantage in the playoffs.

The Colts became the first club in NFL history to start consecutive seasons with nine triumphs after a narrow escape in a 17-16 home victory over Buffalo while a stunning runback led Chicago past the host New York Giants 38-20.

Chicago’s Devin Hester returned a missed field goal attempt 108 yards for a touchdown that gave the Bears a 31-20 lead with 11:20 remaining. The play matched the longest in NFL history.

Hester paused deep in the end zone after catching Jay Feely’s 52-yard miss, then raced to his right and scampered up the sidelines for an amazing touchdown that gave the Bears command to the end.

Hester’s runback matched the NFL record set by Chicago teammate Nathan Vasher, who returned a missed field goal for a touchdown the same distance against San Francisco a year ago.

Thomas Jones carried a season-high 30 times for a season-best 113 yards and a touchdown as Chicago improved to 8-1 with a second-half rally, bouncing back after an upset loss last week to Miami.

Buffalo’s Rian Lindell missed a 41-yard field goal attempt wide to the right with 6:22 to play in the fourth quarter and the Colts ran out the clock to defeat the Bills and remain the only unbeaten team in the NFL this season.

“There are no easy games in this league,” Colts coach Tony Dungy said. “Every week is tough, so this says a lot about our team. I wish we could have put it together a little bit better, but we got our ninth win.”

Last season, the Colts won their first 13 games before losing to San Diego. Last week, Indianapolis matched the 1930s Green Bay squad as the only team with back-to-back 8-0 starts.

In other games, the New York Jets edged New England 17-14, Cleveland downed Atlanta 17-13, San Francisco defeated Detroit 19-13, Miami beat Kansas City 13-10 and Houston vanquished Jacksonville 13-10.