Borussia Moenchengladbach stunned Hamburg SV 3-2, twice coming from behind before scoring a late winner through Canadian Rob Friend to leave the beaten hosts in third place, level on 22 points with Bremen.
Fifth-placed Bayern Munich drew 0-0 at VfB Stuttgart, who ended their five-match losing streak in all competitions to offer coach Markus Babbel some respite.
Battling Mainz drew 3-3 at champions VfL Wolfsburg, recovering from 2-0 and 3-2 down to level with a Tim Hoogland goal five minutes from time.
Wolfsburg are sixth on 18 points, one behind Bayern.
Christian Eigler and Swiss Albert Bunjaku gave Nuremberg a surprise two-goal lead inside 33 minutes as Werder looked sluggish.
Nuremberg, however, failed to finish off the visitors and allowed Werder to pour forward.
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Hunt, bidding for his first Germany call-up, pulled one back in the 71st minute with a powerful header before levelling with a venemous shot from inside the box.
Stuttgart set a frantic early pace against Bayern, stretching keeper Hans-Joerg Butt twice with shots from Julian Schieber and Christian Traesch.
Bayern's Anatoliy Tymoshchuk tried several long range shots but neither Miroslav Klose nor former Stuttgart striker Mario Gomez, making a rare start for the Bavarians, carved out scoring opportunities.
Visiting coach Louis van Gaal brought on striker Luca Toni for Klose in the second half and the Italian made an immediate impact, twice going agonisingly close.
Toni put the ball in the net four minutes from time but was ruled offside.
"I think we had more possession but did not create many chances so in a way I am satisfied," Van Gaal told reporters.
