Green Bay Packers beat Miami Dolphins behind Aaron Rodgers

Aaron Rodgers stood facemask to facemask with a teammate, screaming in jubilation at the end of a hot and harrowing afternoon.

Rodgers had the last word Sunday, throwing a 4-yard touchdown pass to Andrew Quarless with three seconds left to help the Green Bay Packers rally past the Miami Dolphins 27-24.

Green Bay twice gave up leads and trailed 24-17 before Rodgers directed consecutive drives of 68 and 60 yards for the victory. He overcame a fumble and a fourth-and-10 on the Packers' final possession.

Rodgers finished with three touchdown passes and 264 yards while committing no turnovers. The Packers (4-2) earned their third consecutive victory, won in Miami for only the second time ever and remained tied with the Lions atop the NFC North.

The Dolphins (2-3) lost despite the return of six starters who had missed playing time. They overcame deficits of 10-3 and 17-10 to take a 24-17 lead with nine minutes left when Ryan Tannehill hit Mike Wallace for a 5-yard score.

The Packers kicked a field goal with 4:09 to go, then quickly forced a punt to start at their 40 with 2:04 left.

Rodgers fumbled when sacked, and teammate T.J. Lang recovered. That set up a fourth-and-10 situation, but Rodgers threw to Jordy Nelson for 18 yards, then hit James Starks on third-and-10 for 10 yards.

Quarless outmaneuvered linebacker Philip Wheeler for the winning catch.

Rodgers also threw for scores of 9 yards to Nelson and 5 yards to Randall Cobb. He has 15 touchdowns passes and only one interception this season.

On a typical fall day in the subtropics — sunny, humid and 85 degrees — the Wisconsinites appeared ready to wilt in the second half. Cornerbacks Tramon Williams and Sam Shields both appeared affected by the heat and left the game two plays apart in the third quarter.

At halftime, Tannehill had two interceptions and a passer rating of 26.0. But with the Packers' secondary depleted, he threw for two scores and 143 yards in the second half.

Miami's special teams made two big early contributions when Jarvis Landry returned a kickoff 54 yards and Jonathan Freeney blocked a punt. But because of the sputtering offense early, those plays led to only three points.

Green Bay made a goal line stand in the first quarter, stopping Miami three consecutive times at the 1, including on fourth down when Williams tackled Knowshon Moreno for a loss. Casey Hayward intercepted Tannehill to set up a field goal.

The Packers enjoyed a 14½-minute advantage in time of possession, a big change from other games this season. Their run defense was ranked as the NFL's worst, but Miami's running backs totaled only 63 yards on 20 carries.