MIAMI — There are names we know — John Harbaugh, Kevin Stefanski and Robert Saleh — because of what they have accomplished, or haven’t as NFL head coaches.

Names we know because of whose bloodlines they have in Chris Shula, the grandson of Hall of Fame coach Don Shula, and Klint Kubiak, the son of Gary Kubiak, the former head coach of ...Read more

LAS VEGAS — The Las Vegas Raiders don’t just hold the keys to the NFL draft. They have a chance to solve the quarterback riddle that has befuddled them for decades.

With the No. 1 pick, they can draft a quarterback capable of changing the trajectory of their franchise in Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza.

They are not beholden to any other team...Read more

On a field loaded with playoff history, the Los Angeles Chargers couldn't outrun their familiar postseason pattern.

Another one-and-done exit.

This time it was a 16-3 dismissal by the New England Patriots, who had so much success here with Tom Brady and Bill Belichick.

The new hero is second-year quarterback Drake Maye, who was far from ...Read more

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Countless MVP chants reigned down on quarterback Drake Maye in Sunday night’s 16-3 playoff win over the Los Angeles Chargers, so that must make the New England Patriots’ defense the MVU.

Because the defense, not the offense, was the most valuable unit in the wild-card round win.

The defense put Justin Herbert in a ...Read more

By all rights, the San Francisco 49ers’ season should have ended in October. That’s when superstar linebacker Fred Warner’s ankle snapped early in the team’s Week 6 game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Or maybe the funeral should have been held in September, when superstar pass rusher Nick Bosa’s knee buckled in Week 3.

Or perhaps ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The Rams will play the Chicago Bears in an NFC divisional round game at Soldier Field in Chicago next weekend.

The NFL is expected to announce the day and time of the game Sunday night. It’ll be the first playoff meeting between the teams since the NFC title game at the end of the 1985 season.

The No. 5-seeded Rams’ victory...Read more

Josh Allen came into this Super Bowl tournament as the most capable quarterback in the 14-team field. He showed it Sunday.

Allen made top-tier plays as a passer, rusher and thinker — none better than on a late-game touchdown drive for the lead, and the Buffalo Bills held for a 27-24 win against the Jaguars in Jacksonville, Fla.

The NFL is ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — The overachieving and understaffed San Francisco 49ers are on to the NFC playoffs’ divisional round, just without George Kittle.

After losing Kittle to a first-half Achilles tear, the sixth-seeded 49ers rallied Sunday night to dethrone the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles 23-19 in a back-and-forth, wild-card ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — This time last year, few fans outside of the most rabid NFL knew who Kevin Patullo was. For the record, he was the Philadelphia Eagles’ passing game coordinator and coach Nick Sirianni’s favorite lieutenant.

Now, everybody knows his name. After 18 games of ineptness as the Eagles’ offensive coordinator, Patullo will bear ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Whew.

The best nearly went bust.

The heavy favorites nearly collapsed under their own weight.

The Los Angeles Rams were nearly toppled by the runts, barely surviving what should have been a blowout, profusely sweating through a wild-card playoff game that should have been a breeze, and now you wonder.

If their first step ...Read more

CHICAGO — The Chicago Bears will be down two starters for the remainder of the postseason.

Linebacker T.J. Edwards and left tackle Ozzy Trapilo are likely both done for the remainder of the postseason, coach Ben Johnson said after Saturday’s comeback victory against the Green Bay Packers.

Johnson said Edwards suffered a left fibula ...Read more

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Carolina Panthers will head into the offseason with uncertainty surrounding their left tackle position.

Ickey Ekwonu sustained a ruptured patellar tendon in his right knee during Saturday’s wild-card round loss to the Los Angeles Rams, according to head coach Dave Canales Sunday. Ekwonu was injured during the second ...Read more

CHICAGO — No one tells you the side effects when you’re growing up a Chicago sports fan.

It’s something you just have to experience on your own, the nausea, the headaches, the loss of appetite and the overeating, the anger and depression, the utter feeling of helplessness and the occasional bouts of euphoria that make it all worthwhile.

...Read more

PITTSBURGH — In Pittsburgh, maybe in any NFL locale, it doesn't take much for opinions to shift and change, to blow in the wind like a weathervane atop a downtown skyscraper.

But when it comes to this city, the monolith is Steelers football. While it's easy to call the 2025 regular season a roller coaster ride, it's really been more like ...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Raiders mobbed kicker Daniel Carlson after his game-winner split the uprights in last Sunday’s season finale in Las Vegas, to the point of knocking him to the ground.

But really? It should have been the team on the other sideline celebrating with him.

The kick won the Raiders a game, but it also booted the Chiefs up ...Read more

Well, the Miami Dolphins did it. They really did it. They started their latest rebuild under owner Steve Ross — Makeover V? VI? — and gave everyone hope this time could be different.

That’s because it’s actually begun differently. Properly. Ross simultaneously cleaned out the coaching and the personnel offices for once. Every previous ...Read more

CHICAGO — Jordan Love dropped the snap, and chaos ensued. The Green Bay Packers quarterback picked up the football and waited for what felt like an eternity as he looked for an open target.

He found none. Love’s last pass fell incomplete with the clock at zero.

Somehow, some way, the Chicago Bears did it again.

Coach Ben Johnson’s Bears...Read more

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — At Bank of America Stadium on Saturday, Puka Nacua was pure money.

Not only did he score back-to-back touchdowns in the first half, but the All-Pro Rams receiver saved the game in the fourth quarter by denying Carolina an interception.

Puka became PBU-ka.

That’s shorthand for Pass Breakup, and Nacua executed that ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — I’s become fashionable to pile on first-year offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo. He’s the target of local and national self-styled experts, none of whom, you might note, works for an NFL or college team.

Certainly, no matter how close his friendship with Nick Sirianni, Patullo won’t survive next week if the offense again...Read more

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — There’s a reason Matthew Stafford is the favorite to win his first NFL most valuable player award.

The Rams quarterback, a 17-year pro, produced his finest statistical season, leading the NFL in passing yards and touchdown passes.

But Stafford is mainly known for engineering comebacks.

And he did it again Saturday when ...Read more