Eagles and Patriots advance

Donovan McNabb (left) was a boyhood Bears fans

NFC Divisional Play-Off:
Philadelphia Eagles 33-19 Chicago Bears

Donovan McNabb threw for two touchdowns and ran for a third as Philadelphia beat Chicago to reach the NFC Championship game.

David Akers kicked four field goals and the Eagles' rugged defence bottled up a Chicago offence crippled when quarterback Jim Miller suffered a separated shoulder in the the second quarter.

Philadelphia will face the winner of Sunday's Green Bay-St Louis game for the NFC title.

Chicago head home, disappointed after winning the NFC Central and making their first play-off appearance since 1994.

The resilient McNabb, who grew up in the Chicago suburbs, completed 26 of 40 passes for 262 yards and rushed for 37 more.

Injury forced Jim Miller out of the game

After the Bears sacked him for the first time in the third quarter, he scrambled and hit Jeff Thomason with a 30-yard pass to the Chicago 10.

On second down, Duce Staley lined up on the far end and when the Bears went to sleep and forgot to cover him, he easily took a pass from McNabb for a six-yard TD to make it 20-14.

Akers kicked a 40-yarder field goal to put the Eagles up 23-17 in the final quarter, and when Chicago's Autry Denson fumbled the ensuing kick-off after a hit by Tim Hauck, Quinton Caver recovered.

McNabb again responded after being sacked.

He eluded the Bears and found Staley on a 14-yarder to get Akers in position for a 46-yarder with 6:28 left that made it 26-17.

McNabb had a 5-yard TD run with 3:21 to go. The Bears, with Shane Matthews filling in for Miller, managed only one offensive touchdown.

Their defence got them a third-quarter lead when Jerry Azumah grabbed a deflected pass and raced for a 39-yard TD to put them 14-13 up.

But McNabb led the Eagles on an 11-play, 69-yard drive in the final minute of the first half, scrambling out of a Bears rush and hitting Cecil Martin for a 13-yard TD with 14 seconds to go.

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AFC Divisional Play-Off:
New England Patriots 16-13 Oakland Raiders

A snowstorm at Foxboro and an apparent fumble failed to stop Tom Brady and New England from sliding into the AFC Championship game.

Helped by a controversial video replay that overruled the fumble call with 1:43 left, the Patriots beat Oakland 16-13 in overtime after trailing 13-3 going into the fourth quarter.

Adam Vinatieri, whose 45-yard field goal tied the game with 27 seconds left in regulation time, gave the Patriots the victory with a 23-yard field goal with 8:25 gone in OT.

Conditions at Foxboro before the game

New England won their seventh straight game and will face the winner of Sunday's game between Baltimore and Pittsburgh.

The Patriots appeared finished when Greg Biekert recovered Brady's apparent fumble.

Referee Walt Coleman ruled Brady's arm was moving forward and the play was an incompletion.

Brady apparently was pulling the ball back in when hit by a blitzing Charles Woodson. The decision left the Patriots with the ball at the Oakland 42.

Five plays later, Vinatieri lined the tying 45-yard field goal through the snowflakes and the uprights.

The Patriots won their seventh straight game despite a game-long snowfall that seemed to stymie Brady through the first three quarters.

But he was outstanding in the fourth quarter and overtime and ended up 32-for-52 for 312 yards.

Oakland's Rich Gannon, the AFC's top-rated passer, was 17-for-31 for 159 yards.