Green Packers snatch spot in NFL playoffs AARON Rodgers threw a 48-yard touchdown pass to Randall Cobb with 38 seconds remaining to give Green Bay a 33-28 victory at Chicago and a NFL playoff berth. The Packers joined the New Orleans Saints, Philadelphia Eagles and San Diego Chargers in claiming playoff spots on the final day of the regular season. Rodgers, who missed the past seven games with a broken collarbone suffered in a loss to Chicago last month, saw an unguarded receiver beyond the Bears' defence and connected with Cobb, who had been out for more than two months with a knee injury. The Bears saw their season end on an interception off a desperation pass on the game's final play. New Orleans secured a post-season position with a 42-17 rout of Tampa Bay while San Diego edged Kansas City 27-24 in overtime to seal a playoff berth. Philadelphia beat Dallas 24-22 in a head-to-head battle for the NFC East division crown. In the American Conference, Denver captured home-field advantage throughout the playoffs with a 34-14 romp at Oakland in which Peyton Manning set single-season NFL pass yardage and touchdown records and the Broncos finished with a one-season NFL record 606 points. Manning, the Broncos' 37-year-old quarterback, threw for 266 yards and four touchdowns in the first half against the Raiders. His first-half yardage total was exactly what he needed to break the former one-season record of 5476 passing yards set by Drew Brees of New Orleans in 2011. Manning set the yardage mark on a five-yard touchdown pass to Demaryius Thomas with 13 seconds remaining in the second quarter to give him 5477 yards on the season. That was Manning's fourth touchdown pass of the game, giving him 55 touchdown tosses for the season. Last week, he broke the old one-season touchdown pass record of 50 set by New England's Tom Brady in 2007. New England joined Denver with a first-round bye after defeating Buffalo 34-20. In the National Conference, Seattle beat St Louis 27-9 to secure a home-field playoff edge and first-round bye while Carolina clinched a bye as well with a 21-20 win at Atlanta. Next weekend's American Conference playoff openers will find Kansas City at Indianapolis and San Diego at Cincinnati, where the host Bengals seek their first playoff win since 1990, while San Francisco travels to Green Bay and New Orleans will visit Philadelphia in the National Conference. Four teams chased the final American Conference berth with Pittsburgh beating Cleveland 20-7 to force San Diego to win or miss the playoffs. The host Steelers improved to 8-8, avoiding their first losing season since 2003, but needed losses by Miami, Baltimore and San Diego to reach the playoffs. Reigning Super Bowl champion Baltimore was eliminated with a 34-17 loss at Cincinnati, the Ravens missing the playoffs for the first time since 2007.