1998 ESPN Sunday Night Football Halftime Report (Week 16)

(c)1998 NFL; ESPN-Disney/Hearst Halftime report from ESPN's Sunday Night Football for Week 16 of the 1998 season with Chris Berman; who covers the early games, playoff scenarios while teasing the following night's Monday nighter (Dolphins vs. Broncos -- just the 2nd ever meeting due to the various scheduling quirks back then between Dan Marino and John Elway) SCORES (all except Vikings-Jaguars obviously finals) Vikings 12; Jaguars 3 (Vikings pulled away big time in the 2nd half to win 50-10) Jets 17; Bills 10 (Saturday; Jets clinched AFC East with victory and the Vikings victory locked up the other bye) Redskins 20; Buccaneers 16 (Saturday; Redskins won 4th straight in attempt to play spoiler) Panthers 20; Rams 13 (Carolina gets just 3rd win in battle of NFC West cellar dwellers) Bears 24; Ravens 3 (Dave Wannstedt's job probably the only thing Chicago was playing for) Cardinals 19; Saints 17 (Chris Jacke's 36 yard field goal with 6 seconds left keeps Arizona in the hunt while eliminating New Orleans {closest Mike Ditka would get to playoffs with the Saints}) Cowboys 13; Eagles 9 (Dallas stays a game ahead of Arizona for the NFC East title) Falcons 24; Lions 17 (with head coach Dan Reeves recovering from bypass surgery; Atlanta gets the win in {what turned out to be} Barry Sanders' final home game) Packers 30; Oilers 22 (Reggie White's last home game as a Packer; the penultimate game for the Tennessee Oilers before the Oilers nickname went to the history file in favor of Titans) Patriots 24; 49ers 21 (Scott Zolak replaces injured Drew Bledsoe; Adam Vinatieri - in a sight that would become very familiar over the years - makes the game-winning field goal from 35 yards with 6 ticks on the clock) Giants 28; Chiefs 7 (New York keeps their faint playoff hopes alive while ensuring Marty Schottenheimer's first losing season in 14 full seasons as an NFL head coach) Bengals 25; Steelers 24 (Bengals get rare {especially for the Bungles era} sweep of a Steelers team dropping its 4th straight following the Thanksgiving coin toss fiasco) Raiders 17; Chargers 10 (one year after the worst season for the Silver and Black since Al Davis' arrival; Oakland assures Raider Nation a .500 record at worst despite being eliminated earlier) Seahawks 27; Colts 23 (335 yard, 1 TD day by rookie Peyton Manning not enough to hold off a Seahawks team getting their 2nd straight win after getting screwed by Phil Luckett's crew vs. the Jets {also eliminated earlier in the day}) PLAYOFF SCENARIOS Cardinals: needed win or loss by Giants to clinch wild-card (Arizona beat San Diego 16-13; otherwise they'd have been in trouble because...) Giants: needed win and Cardinals and Buccaneers to lose (New York beat Philadelphia 20-10 but both Arizona and Tampa Bay won) Buccaneers: needed win, Cardinals loss and Giants win (2 out of 3 ain't good for Tampa Bay {shut out Cincinnati 35-0 and Giants won. Unfortunately for the Bucs, so did Arizona}) Dolphins: needed to win one of their last 2 (Miami did just that, defeating the defending champion Broncos the following night 31-21 before being blown out 38-16 by Atlanta) Oilers: needed win and Dolphins to lose their last two (Dolphins split their last two to knock Tennessee out) Vikings: needed win to clinch home-field advantage (Minnesota did that, giving their fans a one-day late Christmas present with a 26-16 win over the Oilers) COMMERCIALS 1. Mercedes-Benz (Starmark Used Cars) 2. NFL/United Way (Jacksonville Jaguars DE Jeff Lageman) 3. ESPN the Magazine (Minnesota Vikings receivers Cris Carter and Randy Moss) 4. Trimetal Driver (Roger Maltbie) 5. PCConnection.com 6. NFL (with big band version of "Winter Wonderland" and a John Facenda sound bite)