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By Marc Lawrence
 Wednesday, Jan 7

Just my two cents...

Does Indianapolis GM Chris Ballard lead the NFL in mulligans? He got a get-out-of-jail-free card after the Andrew Luck retirement; now, he’s getting another one after this year’s collapse.

It’s time to blow it up. Part ways with Ballard and Shane Steichen. Don’t accept mediocrity, which has been the Colts’ default setting for almost a decade now.

You know all the numbers by now. One playoff victory during the Ballard era. No playoff appearances in five years. No AFC South titles during a 10-year run when every other AFC South team has won the division twice.

Steichen in particular has gone 2-10 against Houston and Jacksonville during his tenure. And I could go on, but won’t.

You know the score; the Colts, the worst season-finishers in the league, stink in December, which is when the real NFL season begins.

I know what Robert Irsay would do if he was still alive.

ON TODAY'S SCORECARD
Wildest Game of the Season

MLC

It’s safe to say that the FCS national championship between Montana State and Illinois State was full of heart-stopping plays.

Illinois State fans just suffered the same fate last night that Steelers fans feared they would on Sunday. 

The Redbirds’ miracle run through the FCS playoffs came to an end in Nashville with an overtime loss to Montana State in the national championship game that hinged on a blocked extra point.

The dramatic conclusion evoked memories of the Steelers-Ravens win-or-go-home game one night earlier in Pittsburgh, when Steelers kicker Chris Boswell’s partially blocked extra-point attempt in the final moments of the game loomed large until Baltimore rookie Tyler Loop’s missed field goal attempt gave the Steelers the victory. 

The FCS title game was even more dramatic than that NFL thriller, though. 

The fact that Illinois State was even in the game was miraculous. The Redbirds were one of the last four teams chosen by the selection committee to be in the 24-team field, according to SI.com, and they became the first team in FCS history to win four straight road games to reach the national championship.

Illinois State was down 21-8 in the title game at the half, but was a completely different team in the second half, marching down the field on three long touchdown drives (17 plays, 85 yards; 15 plays, 81 yards; and eight plays, 60 yards) to tie the game at 28–28. 

They found themselves in position to possibly win the game with a last second field goal before the Redbirds’ center snapped the ball prematurely and it sailed right past QB Justin Lamson’s ear on third down. Lamson fell on it, but it was a 20-yard loss that forced the Bobcats to punt the ball away and send the game to overtime. 

The overtime period was no less chaotic. Illinois State got the ball first and scored on its second play, but the celebration was short-lived as the extra-point attempt was blocked.

Montana State answered with a touchdown and successfully converted the point after to give the Bobcats their first national championship since 1984. 

It’s going to be hard for the CFP to top this.


GRINDING OUT THE PROFITS
Gotta Love It

Jordan Love has sat out the Green Bay Pakcers’ last two games.

The 27-year-old quarterback suffered a head injury in Week 16 against the Chicago Bears and was later placed under the league concussion protocol.

The Packers will face the Bears in the wild-card round on Saturday. The winner of Saturday’s single-elimination game will proceed to the divisional round to face either the San Francisco 49ers or the Philadelphia Eagles.

The good news for Green Bay is that Love is expected to start under center against the Bears. On Tuesday, the team announced that Love is off the injury report ahead of Saturday’s game.

The bad news is the Packers are a No. 7 seed. For more on this see our STAT OF THE DAY below.


STAT OF THE DAY
1-10

The SU record of No. 7 seeds in the NFL playoffs since the league expanded to a
14-team playoff in 2000. The only winner
was Green Bay as a 7-point underdog
over Dallas in the 2023-24 playoffs.

BETCHA DIDN’T KNOW
Diddly Squat

For the first time in NFL history, a defense has failed to record a single interception across an entire season.

Who else but the Jets to infamously cement their place in league history?

Despite hiring a defensive-minded head coach in Aaron Glenn, who was previously the Lions’ defensive coordinator, New York had one of the worst defensive seasons in franchise history.

And after getting blown out by the Bills’ backups in Week 18, a defeat which saw New York fall to 3–14, the Jets have officially gone a full season without an interception. It’s an undesirable feat that’s never been achieved before, and one that’s even more embarrassing considering it occurred during the era of 17-game seasons.

Prior to New York in 2025, the record for the fewest interceptions across a full season was held by the 49ers, who had just two picks in 2018.

TRENDING TODAY
And The Race is Over

MLC

The final NFL power rankings of the season are in, courtesy of Yahoo Sports' Frank Schwab. See how they compare to the power rankings entering Week 1...

  1. Seahawks (17 in Week 1)

  2. Broncos (8)

  3. Patriots (21)

  4. Rams (14)

  5. Jaguars (15)

  6. 49ers (13)

  7. Texans (17)

  8. Bears (16)

  9. Eagles (1)

  10. Bills (5)

  11. Chargers (11)

  12. Packers (6)

  13. Steelers (20)

  14. Panthers (29)

  15. Vikings (7)

  16. Lions (3)

  17. Falcons (23)

  18. Ravens (2)

  19. Buccaneers (9)

  20. Colts (25)

  21. Cowboys (22)

  22. Saints (32)

  23. Bengals (12)

  24. Chiefs (4)

  25. Dolphins (27)

  26. Browns (30)

  27. Commanders (10)

  28. Giants (28)

  29. Titans (31)

  30. Cardinals (19)

  31. Jets (26)

  32. Raiders (24)

Biggest risers: No team vaulted more spots from Week 1 to Week 18 than the Patriots (up 18), followed closely by the Seahawks (up 16) and Panthers (up 15). The Rams, Jaguars, Texans and Saints (up 10) made the next largest jumps.

Biggest fallers: The Chiefs (down 20) fell the furthest over the course of the season, followed by the Commanders (down 17), Ravens (down 16), Lions (down 13), Bengals (down 11), Cardinals (down 11) and Buccaneers (down 10).


THE BOTTOM LINE
The Chopping Block

MLC

On Monday it was Kevin Stanfanski.

Yesterday John Harbaugh heard his name called.

That makes it 6-for-6 on these pages with our Black Monday list of NFL coaches living on the hot seat.

Who will it be today? Not sure but what we do know is the NFL head coaching fraternity is on pins and needles following the lopping of heads that are rolling this week.

He won one Super Bowl in Baltimore and posted a 180-113 record. More to the point, though, on the heels of an 8-9 season. this year, it marked the fourth non-winning season in the last eleven years for the Ravens.

Harbaugh was a special teams coordinator for the Philadelphia Eagles before landing with the Ravens in 2008. In his first five seasons, the team was over .500 in each year and won a Super Bowl. Baltimore beat Jim Harbaugh and the San Francisco 49ers in that Super Bowl, still the first-time brothers were head coaches against each other in the big game.

The one person carrying the brunt of the decision to fire Harbaugh has to be rookie PK Tyler Loop, who missed a game-winning 44-yard field goal in Sunday’s playoff eliminating loss to Pittsburgh.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"The best way to find out if you can
trust somebody is to trust them."

- Ernest Hemingway

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