Borussia Monchengladbach stole Saturday's Bundesliga headlines as they brought Bayern Munich's record-breaking unbeaten start to the season to an end with a 3-1 win at Borussia-Park.
The hosts have lost just once in 14 games since Andre Schubert succeeded Lucien Favre in late September, rising to third in the table in the process.
Franck Ribery did mark his return from a long-term ankle injury by pulling one back for the visitors, but Schubert's men duly saw out the rest of the game to confirm their status as Bayern's traditional bogey team, having taken two wins and a draw from their last three clashes with the Bavarian giants.
Bayern's slip-up provided second-placed Borussia Dortmund with a huge incentive to win their late game at Wolfsburg and they duly did so 2-1 in dramatic style.
Germany international Marco Reus fired Thomas Tuchel's men into a 32nd-minute lead at the Volkswagen Arena, but they looked set to have to settle for a point when Swiss defender Ricardo Rodriguez replied for the visitors in the 90th minute.
Deep into stoppage-time, however, Shinji Kagawa's left-foot shot found the bottom corner to clinch the win.
Vladimir Darida handed the hosts an early lead and to compound Leverkusen's woes, they then lost Sebastian Boenisch to a 17th-minute red card.
Hertha were not to be denied, however, with John Brooks securing a vital win by heading home on the hour-mark.
Hamburg's recent upsurge in form, meanwhile, came to an end as they crashed 3-1 at home to Mainz and there was also a late goal at Ingolstadt's Audi Sportpark where Mark Uth salvaged a 1-1 draw for Hoffenheim with a stoppage-time leveller.
