- - 32 teams entered, 14 remain: Bring on the NFL playoffs

Kendall Baker and Jeff Tracy January 5, 2026 at 8:00 PM

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🚨 Headlines

🏈 Falcons clean house: The Falcons fired head coach Raheem Morris and GM Terry Fontenot on Sunday night. Atlanta went 8-9 in both seasons under Morris and has now finished with a sub-.500 record eight years in a row.

🏒 Team USA revealed: Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews, Wild defenseman Quinn Hughes, Golden Knights center Jack Eichel and Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck headline the 25-man roster set to represent the United States at next month's Olympics.

🏈 Portal season begins: The college football transfer portal officially opened on Friday. Among the biggest moves so far are North Texas QB Drew Mestemaker following head coach Eric Morris to Oklahoma State, ex-TCU QB Josh Hoover committing to Indiana, and ex-Cincinnati QB Brendan Sorsby committing to Texas Tech. The portal will close on Jan. 16.

🇯🇵 Coming to America: Three MLB teams have landed Japanese stars this offseason, with the White Sox signing 1B/3B Munetaka Murakami (2 years, $34M), the Astros signing RHP Tatsuya Imai (3 years, $54M) and the Blue Jays signing 3B Kazuma Okamoto (4 years, $60M).

🥊 Fury un-retires (again): Tyson Fury's fifth retirement from boxing has ended the same way as his previous four, with the former two-time heavyweight champion announcing a return to the ring. "Nothing better to do than punch men in the face and get paid for it," wrote the 37-year-old.

🏈 Bring on the NFL postseason

(Jonathan Castro/Yahoo Sports)

The NFL regular season came to an epic conclusion on Sunday night in Pittsburgh, where the Steelers secured the final playoff spot over the rival Ravens thanks to a missed field goal as time expired. ICYMI: Truly an incredible last 10 minutes.

More from Week 18: The Panthers lost to the Bucs but still won the NFC South, the Broncos and Seahawks won to secure their conference's top seeds, and the Raiders locked up the No. 1 pick despite beating the Chiefs on a 60-yard field goal.

NFC playoff field -

Seahawks* (14-3)

Bears (11-6)

Eagles* (11-6)

Panthers* (8-9)

Rams (12-5)

49ers (12-5)

Packers (9-7-1)

*Elite company: Seattle's Sam Darnold is one of just two QBs in NFL history to win 14 games in back-to-back seasons. The only other QB to do that? Tom Brady.

*Controversial decision: The Eagles rested their starters in Sunday's loss to the Commanders. Had they won, they would have leapfrogged the Bears for the No. 2 seed.

*They did it again: The Panthers are the first franchise in NFL history to make the playoffs twice with a losing record. The 2014 team also made the field with a 7-8-1 record.

AFC playoff field -

Broncos* (14-3)

Patriots* (14-3)

Jaguars* (13-4)

Steelers (10-7)

Texans* (12-5)

Bills (12-5)

Chargers (11-6)

*Could history repeat? The last time the Broncos earned the No. 1 seed (2015), they went on to win the Super Bowl at Levi's Stadium, which will host this year's game.

*Worst to first: The AFC East champion Patriots join the Bears and Panthers as teams that won their division this season after finishing in last place a year ago.

*Going streaking: The AFC South ended the regular season on a trio of lengthy streaks. The Jaguars won eight straight games, the Texans won nine straight games and the Colts lost seven straight games.

Quick links:

Playoff schedule

Odds for every game

💯 Big numbers

The NFL's new single-season sack king. (Justin Casterline/Getty Images)🏈 23 sacks

Browns edge rusher Myles Garrett set the NFL sack record on Sunday with his 23rd of the season, breaking the mark of 22.5 sacks previously held by Michael Strahan (2001) and T.J. Watt (2021).

Finishing strong: Garrett set the record with a faster get-off speed (0.23 seconds) than any player on any sack this season. "Probably the best get-off I ever had," he said after the game.

📺 96 of 100

Sports represented 96 of the top 100 most-watched telecasts in 2025, tying an all-time record, per Sports Business Journal. Of those 96 broadcasts, 92 were football games (84 NFL, eight college), two were World Series games, one was the men's college basketball title game and one was the Kentucky Derby.

As for the non-sports broadcasts? The only four to make the top 100 were President Trump's inauguration, his address to a joint session of Congress in March, the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and the Oscars.

🏈 0 INTs

The Jets made the wrong kind of history (how unlike them!), becoming the first NFL team since 1933 to go an entire season without recording an interception.

For reference: In 1933, the NFL passing leader (Harry Newman of the Giants) had 973 yards and interceptions weren't even an official statistic. It's legitimately unbelievable that this happened in 2025, when the Jets defense allowed 3,674 passing yards and had infinitely more opportunities for a pick.

🏀 30-6

Following their historic 24-1 start, the Thunder are just 6-5 in their last 11 games. That includes three losses to the Spurs and one each to the Timberwolves and Suns, with the latter coming on Sunday courtesy of Devin Booker's last-second 3-pointer.

Looking ahead: OKC (30-6) is still on pace for 68 wins, which would be tied for the fifth-most ever in a season. But the 73-win mark set by the 2015-16 Warriors appears much safer than it did a month ago.

🏈 College football's unlikely final four

(Taylor Wilhelm/Yahoo Sports)

We should all spend the next two weeks wrapping our minds around what's happened to college football this season. In Year 2 of the 12-team playoff, the sport has gone crazy in the best possible way.

From Yahoo Sports' Dan Wolken:

Take a look at that final four. That weird, disorienting, beautiful final four. One of Indiana, Oregon, Ole Miss or Miami is going to win the national title. Can we pause for moment and celebrate how impossible that would have seemed a mere three years ago and how cool it is now?

Here's Indiana, historically one of the worst programs in major college football, bullying everyone to a 14-0 record and the well-deserved status as national championship favorite thanks to a genius named Curt Cignetti who was hiding in plain sight until he was 60 years old.

Here's Oregon, the poster child for new money that hung around the elite for so long it became the establishment, hoping to deliver the national championship 87-year-old Nike founder and mega-booster Phil Knight yearns to experience.

Here's Ole Miss, the school that never lost a tailgate party but also never won a modern-era SEC championship, trying to save its conference from a playoff humiliation while the coach who built the program watches from Baton Rouge because he deemed it easier to win a title there.

And here's Miami, a team that wasn't projected to make the CFP until the selection committee pulled a switcheroo at the last second and vaulted the Hurricanes over Notre Dame for the final spot in the field.

Meanwhile? Goodbye Georgia. See ya, Ohio State. Best of luck in your future endeavors, Alabama.

All we ever wanted was a postseason where the teams deemed to be elite by poll voters or committee members had to prove it on the field in a playoff format that looked like every other level of football. Now we have it, and it's proven one thing definitively: When you put teams into a tournament bracket, unexpected stuff happens. Even in college football.

Bottom line: For far too many years, the paradigm of college football was based mostly on what we thought we knew about teams. It used to be a beauty pageant. Now, it's a month-long exam. Finally, the results are in. They may not be what we expected, but at least we know we're getting the truth.

🌎 The world in photos

(Tomas Diniz Santos/Getty Images)

🇺🇸 Miami, Florida — The Rangers crushed the Panthers, 5-1, in Friday's Winter Classic at LoanDepot Park behind a masterclass from Mika Zibanejad, who had a hand in all five goals with a hat trick and a pair of assists.

Sunshine State: Florida's inaugural outdoor NHL game was unsurprisingly the warmest Winter Classic ever, with a temperature of 63.1 degrees Fahrenheit at puck drop.

(Warren Little/Getty Images)

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 London, England — 18-year-old Luke "The Nuke" Littler won his second straight World Darts Championship on Saturday, dropping just four sets all tournament en route to becoming the first repeat champion in a decade.

Climbing the leaderboard: Littler, already the youngest champion ever, is now one of just seven two-time winners, trailing only three-time champion Michael van Gerwen and 14-time champion Phil Taylor.

Belinda Bencic of Team Switzerland serves during Day 2 of the United Cup. (Paul Kane/Getty Images)

🇦🇺 Perth, Australia — The United Cup began on Friday, with 18 nations competing in the fourth edition of the mixed-gender tournament. Among those in action are four of the world's top 10 men and three of the world's top 10 women.

Who's favored? The United States is the No. 1 seed and defending champion, followed by No. 2 Canada and No. 3 Italy, whose men have won three straight Davis Cups and whose women have won two straight Billie Jean King Cups.

(Gabriel Bouys/AFP via Getty Images)

🇲🇦 Tangiers, Morocco — A Senegal supporter cheers for his side during their Round of 16 victory over Sudan in the Africa Cup of Nations.

12 teams left: Senegal, Mali, Cameroon and Morocco have reached the quarterfinals in the 35th edition of AFCON. They'll be joined by the winners of two games today (Egypt vs. Benin, Nigeria vs. Mozambique) and two games tomorrow (Ivory Coast vs. Burkina Faso, Algeria vs. DR Congo).

📺 Watchlist: Monday, Jan. 5

(NCAA)🏈 FCS National Championship

No. 2 Montana State and Illinois State play for the title tonight in Nashville (7:30pm ET, ESPN), where someone will be crowned champion for the first time in at least four decades.

Meet the contenders: The Bobcats won their only championship in 1984, though this is their third trip to the title game in the last five years. The Redbirds, who stunned undefeated defending champion North Dakota State in the second round, are seeking their first title and would become the first unseeded champion since Richmond in 2008.

🏀 Unrivaled

The second season of the 3-on-3 women's league featuring 54 WNBA players tips off today in Miami, where eight teams (up from six last year) begin their 14-game regular season.

Today's schedule: Mist vs. Hive (1pm, truTV); Vinyl vs. Laces (2:15pm, truTV); Rose vs. Lunar Owls (8pm, TNT); Breeze vs. Phantom (9:15pm, TNT).

More to watch:

🏀 NBA: Knicks at Pistons (7pm, Peacock); Nuggets at 76ers (8:30pm, Peacock); Warriors at Clippers (10pm, Peacock) … Detroit (26-9) and New York (23-12) are the top teams in the East.

🏀 NCAAM: No. 13 Nebraska at Ohio State (6:30pm, FS1); No. 24 USC at No. 9 Michigan State (8:30pm, FS1) … The Cornhuskers (14-0) are off to their best start ever, and are one of just six remaining undefeated teams.

🏒 World Juniors: Sweden vs. Czechia (8:30pm, NHL) … Saint Paul, Minnesota, hosts the final of the 50th World Junior Hockey Championship.

Today's full slate.

🏀 NBA trivia

(Chris Coduto/Getty Images)

Russell Westbrook reached 26,711 career points on Friday to become the NBA's all-time leading scorer among point guards.

Question: Whose record did he break?

Hint: He played the majority of his career on a team that has since changed its name and city.

Answer at the bottom.

⚽️ Goal of the year

(Giphy)

Fulham's Harrison Reed scored a stoppage-time screamer in the 97th minute on Sunday to snatch a point against Liverpool. Early contender for goal of the year.

Trivia answer: Oscar Robertson (26,710 points)

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Source: “AOL Sports”