Which is to say, no, this isn\u2019t Allen\u2019s best Buffalo team.<\/p>\n
However, it might be the hardest one to kill, and that\u2019s a good quality to have in the playoffs.<\/p>\n
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The Bears\u2019 furious comeback Saturday night foreshadowed what looks like a very bright future in Chicago. This time of year, we\u2019re reminded about how vital the coach and quarterback are. Both Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams showed, in no uncertain terms, why so many NFL teams were in hot pursuit of them before the two landed in Chicago, Williams nine months before Johnson.<\/p>\n
And it showed most with the Bears trailing the Packers, 21\u20133, at halftime of their NFC wild-card game on Saturday night, with their season slipping away.<\/p>\n
In the locker room, no one was flipping the Gatorade over, or giving some firebrand speech you\u2019d see in a movie. Instead, it was about figuring out what went wrong, and how to fix it. Because there was real genuine belief it\u2019d get fixed, the kind you can only have if you have a coach and quarterback capable of bringing you back in that kind of setting.<\/p>\n
The conversation, wide receiver DJ Moore told me postgame, \u201cThat we\u2019re better than what we did in the first half, and we just need to go out there and execute and be detailed.\u201d<\/p>\n
That may be boring, but it also worked in a tangible way in the Bears\u2019 wild 31\u201327 win<\/a>.<\/p>\n On the coaching side, the players believed that Johnson and his staff would find a way to generate plays that would bring them back. One example was the two-point conversion in the fourth quarter that cut Green Bay\u2019s lead to 27\u201324. Chicago came out in a jumbo set, forcing the Packers to put their bigger people on the field. The Bears then spread out to isolate fast-rising rookie tight end Colston Loveland on linebacker Nick Niemann.<\/p>\n Another example was the game-winning touchdown. The Bears got the Packers to bite on a fake tunnel screen to Luther Burden III, forcing a scrambling defense to pick between covering Loveland or Moore down the field, as defenders came up to cover Burden.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve been practicing that play<\/a> for a minute now,\u201d Moore said. \u201cIt was my time for the touchdown. In moments like that, [Johnson] goes with players, not plays. The players make the plays come to life. And as he calls them, we have to go out there and execute. Whoever\u2019s the primary has to win, and if he doesn\u2019t, everyone else is winning.<\/p>\n And where that one was put on a plate for Williams, so many other throws weren\u2019t. Like in the fourth quarter, with the score 21\u20139, when he put the ball in a tiny window on a corner route to Loveland, with linebacker Quay Walker giving chase. Or the throw he made in a scramble situation to Rome Odunze<\/a> on fourth-and-8 with 5:37 left, down 27\u201316, and the season on the line. I don\u2019t think there are five guys on the planet capable of making that sort of off-platform, across-your-body throw. But just as vital to it was the poise to make it.<\/p>\n \u201cHe just stayed calm, cool and collected,\u201d Moore said. \u201cAnd when we needed him to shine bright, he did. It\u2019s always coming through him, and it trickles down throughout the offense.\u201d<\/p>\n The scary thing about all this? It sure seems like the Bears are just scratching the surface of where Johnson and Williams can take a talented, balanced team.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, it definitely feels that way,\u201d Moore said.<\/p>\n And you didn\u2019t need to be wearing a uniform to see that the other night.<\/p>\n Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford didn’t let a finger injury stop him from leading Los Angeles to the divisional round of the playoffs. \/ Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images<\/p>\n Matthew Stafford\u2019s greatness was on full display in Charlotte on Saturday. The Rams\u2019 season, with so much expected, was on the ropes. The Panthers led 24\u201320 and 31\u201327 in the fourth quarter. Stafford answered the bell<\/a>.<\/p>\n And he did it after a finger injury<\/a> that he conceded \u201cwasn\u2019t pleasant\u201d after the game rendered him not near the quarterback he usually is. Consider:<\/p>\n \u2022 Stafford hit on his first nine throws for 118 yards, as the Rams took advantage of a Carolina turnover and a turnover on downs to race to a 14\u20130 lead.<\/p>\n \u2022 From that point through the end of the third quarter, he was 3-of-18 for 53 yards. And if you pinpoint where his right hand crashed into Panthers pass rusher D.J. Wonnum, and the finger bent back, through the end to the third quarter, he was 2-of-12 for 34 yards. The final of those throws was intercepted by Mike Jackson, setting up a Chuba Hubbard touchdown run that gave the Panthers their first lead two plays into the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n So everything was going wrong. The Rams\u2019 defense was starting to bend. The Panthers were gaining confidence. And from that point on, Stafford\u2014one of the favorites to win league MVP<\/a>\u2014clearly showed his value to the team.<\/p>\n He was 12-of-15 for 143 yards and two touchdowns in the fourth quarter. He led drives of 67 and 71 yards playing from behind. He was 5-of-6 for all 71 yards on the drive that won it.<\/p>\n And here\u2019s the coolest part: He didn\u2019t say a word about it to his offensive teammates.<\/p>\n \u201cI wasn\u2019t aware of anything; I saw he kind of banged his hand, but I wasn\u2019t aware of any injury,\u201d tight end Colby Parkinson told me, as he boarded the team plane. \u201cAnd, obviously, we had complete trust in him going into that final drive. And he came through. He delivered.\u201d<\/p>\n That included the game-winning throw on a wheel route that required Stafford, with that finger injury, to put the ball into a razor-thin window. The Panthers had it covered. But you can\u2019t cover the perfect throw, this one to Parkinson\u2019s back shoulder, hitting what little opening Carolina gave him to make it.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was kind of an out-and-up\u2014the defender played over the top a bit, so I knew I was going to have to get back to the ball,\u201d Parkinson said. \u201cI don\u2019t think Matthew could\u2019ve walked up and placed the ball in my hands any better than he threw it. It was an amazing throw, amazing play, amazing thing to be a part of.\u201d<\/p>\n Now, we\u2019ll see if the Rams can be the amazing team they\u2019ve been at points this year.<\/p>\n Stafford\u2019s finger issue could affect that. But the important part is that they\u2019re still alive, thanks to their MVP.<\/p>\n Matt Ryan is more than a figurehead for the Falcons. There was a reason Atlanta named him the team\u2019s new president of football<\/a>, and a need that someone like the 40-year-old had to fill in Atlanta. That begins with where Rich McKay, who\u2019s been with the team since 2003, stood. His role within owner Arthur Blank\u2019s sports conglomerate has fluctuated over the years, and recently, he\u2019s been involved with his boss\u2019s MLS team, the bid for an NWSL expansion team, and Atlanta\u2019s upcoming commitments to host the World Cup next summer and Super Bowl LXII in 2028.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the football team had its issues. There were the quarterback investments in Kirk Cousins and Michael Penix Jr. in 2024 that failed to pay off as a 6\u20133 start melted away in an 8\u20139 season. Then, there was a 3\u20132 start this year that crumbled under a five-game losing streak, during which Blank acted\u2014asking Sportology to conduct a health-check on the team<\/a>, while reconsidering McKay\u2019s role in the bigger picture against what the longtime CEO did for the Falcons.<\/p>\n The result: Along with other changes necessary in football operations, there needed to be more oversight and accountability. Blank\u2019s not in the office every day, and with McKay stretched thin across so many areas, Sportology and the owner agreed that bringing a senior football officer aboard\u2014with the coach and GM reporting to him, rather than the owner\u2014would create greater alignment and accountability across the board.<\/p>\n Around that time, team president Greg Beadles approached Ryan to gauge his interest in serving in such a role, having seen the quarterback\u2019s ability to lead, galvanize and hold people accountable over Ryan\u2019s 14 years as a player in Atlanta. The Falcons didn\u2019t know how he\u2019d respond. He\u2019d told people while he was playing that he didn\u2019t have any designs on coaching. But when they asked about an executive role, he was intrigued.<\/p>\n Bottom line: Blank felt the organization needed a spark. He\u2019s 83 and saw three of his best friends pass away this year. It\u2019s now been nearly a decade since the team\u2019s historic loss in Super Bowl LI. He didn\u2019t want to wait on anything. He knew he had to do something bold.<\/p>\n That meant moving McKay over to be CEO of AMBSE\u2014which encompasses all of Blank\u2019s sports properties\u2014full-time, promoting Beadles to Falcons CEO to oversee the team\u2019s business and hiring Ryan to be in charge of football. Next will come the hires of a new general manager and a coach. Ian Cunningham (who works for one of Ryan\u2019s best friends, Bears GM Ryan Poles) is the favorite to be the GM. But right now, the Falcons are the only team looking for a GM, so they can take their time and find the fit that\u2019s right with a new coach.<\/p>\n And the first good sign has come, as I\u2019ve heard it, in Ryan\u2019s humility. As a strong leader, and as much as the team needs that, he knows what he doesn\u2019t know. He\u2019s already talked to those in the organization about where he needs to catch up, and has shown a willingness to be all-in on learning, which is how John Elway was (and Tom Brady has a ways to go<\/a> in this area) when he got back to Denver in 2011.<\/p>\n Of course, they\u2019ve got to get the coach and GM hires right, and then get the quarterback position right, too, whether it\u2019s Penix or someone else. That said, hiring Ryan is a good start in getting the organization aligned after certain elements were patched together over the past decade.<\/p>\n The Dolphins got what they were looking for in new GM Jon-Eric Sullivan, a dyed-in-the-wool scout with executive traits. Miami\u2019s had two months to work on it. And when former GM Chris Grier and the team mutually decided to part ways on Halloween, the first order of business was to look inward and see how things had fallen apart.<\/p>\n The structure was the first piece. The setup, for some time, had the coach (Mike McDaniel) and the cap chief (Brandon Shore) reporting to the GM (Grier), who reported to the owner (Stephen Ross). And, over the years, as Miami looked more closely at it, the result was an erosion of the team-building process.<\/p>\n When Mike Tannenbaum was in charge (2015 to \u201918), the Dolphins built aggressively. When Brian Flores arrived (\u201919) and was paired with Grier, Miami went the other way and amassed draft assets. Then, McDaniel arrived in 2022, and Miami reverted to aggression to try to take advantage of the window left while quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was on his rookie contract, bringing in vets such as Tyreek Hill, Bradley Chubb and Jalen Ramsey.<\/p>\n As a result, the Dolphins have had the fewest draft picks in the league over the past four years, with only one player left from the 2022 and \u201923 classes. That player, De\u2019Von Achane, was someone that McDaniel himself insisted the Dolphins take.<\/p>\n So Miami intended to lean into scouting. Shore\u2019s now in an elevated role, not unlike Mike Disner\u2019s in Detroit, Brandt Tilis\u2019s in Carolina or Tony Pastoors\u2019s with the Rams. That, the Dolphins figured, would allow them to hire a more pure evaluator into the GM role. And while the reporting structure still needs to be worked out, it at least has the look of that three-headed model, with coach, GM and football ops czar reporting to ownership.<\/p>\n Sullivan fits perfectly into that. His reputation mirrored that of his old boss, Brian Gutekunst, in Green Bay before he became the Packers\u2019 GM\u2014and that was apparent as the Dolphins did their background work. All of it came back mind-bendingly consistent, with Sullivan someone who\u2019d been ready for a couple of years, with the sort of values Miami was looking for in a leader who\u2019d work collaboratively and with the bigger picture in mind.<\/p>\n Ross, his son-in-law Danny Sillman, team president Tom Garfinkel and Shore saw it in the interview, too, where Sullivan showed his passion for player evaluation and team building in a way that wasn\u2019t performative.<\/p>\n The results helped, too. One story, in particular, encapsulated the whole thing. The young exec was the first Packers scout on Jordan Love and became Love\u2019s biggest advocate as the 2020 draft drew closer. The Dolphins liked that part of it. But as much as the evaluation, they liked Sullivan\u2019s vision and conviction, and the Packers\u2019 resolve, in making a call for the long term, that wouldn\u2019t help in the short term, and could (and did) rankle Aaron Rodgers.<\/p>\n Now, Sullivan will jump in on a head coach search<\/a> that got underway over the weekend, which is just one of a number of things he and Miami have to get right this offseason.<\/p>\n Former Ravens head coach John Harbaugh will start interviewing for other jobs this week. \/ Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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