There were a few inter-conference games that were close in the third week of the NFL season and two of those games went into overtime. The Chicago Bears sent their fans home happy with a 23-17 overtime win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Bears led at halftime 17-7 and then the Steelers tied it with ten unanswered points to tie it up at 17 before the Bears prevailed.

In Tennessee, the Seattle Seahawks paid a visit and came within six points late in the game. But the Titans held on for a 33-27 victory. The Titans had a comfortable lead – or what appeared to be a comfortable lead – after three quarters, 30-14. But a couple of touchdown passes from Russell Wilson – sandwiched around a Titans field goal – had the Titans loosening their collar as the clock ran out.

The third close one – and the second one to go into overtime – was between a perennial NFC power and an AFC team looking for their first win. The Green Bay Packers hosted the Cincinnati Bengals and at halftime it looked like the wrong team was ahead. The Bengals led 21-7 at the halfway mark and were still leading late in the game. Thats when Aaron Rodgers tossed a three-yard touchdown pass to Jordy Nelson with 17 seconds left in regulation to tie it at 24-24. Mason Crosby kicked the eventual game winning field goal at the 6:22 mark of overtime.

The only inter-conference game that wasn’t close was between the Oakland Raiders and the Washington Redskins. The Redskins had three touchdowns scored before the Raiders got on the scoreboard. After the 27-10 victory, the Redskins have won their last two games after losing their opener to the Eagles.  With the NFC winning three out of four games this week, it has now taken a 6-5 lead in head-to-head competition. In the four games, it outscored the AFC 104-84 and leads in points for the year 241-240.

Washington travels  to Kansas City for a Monday night inter-conference game. The Eagles have already played the Chiefs and came away with a 27-20 loss. The other inter-conference games scheduled are the Eagles visiting the Los Angeles Chargers, New Orleans plays Miami in London, Buffalo travels to Atlanta, Carolina is at New England and Indianapolis is at Seattle.