More Bills heartbreak; Bears luck runs out; Stroud skepticism growing; MLB salary cap/floor

TRENDING FAN CONVERSATIONS FROM THE WEEKEND IN SPORTS

JANUARY 16 - 18, 2025

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The Broncos advance to the AFC Championship game, but lose Bo Nix to a fractured ankle on the second-to-last play of the game. The Bills’ season once again ends in heartbreak after turning the ball over five times, including a controversial, game-altering interception call.

The Broncos came out winners, but both teams lost something in their climb for the AFC Championship. For the Bills, it’s obvious. Another heartbreaking loss and end to the season in the playoffs, leaving a sense of dumbfoundedness among the fanbase. The normally mistake-free playoff Josh Allen was not what showed up in this one. He played his heart out, but his two interceptions and two lost fumbles were too much to overcome. It’s hard not to feel for Allen. He’s rarely the problem for Buffalo in the playoffs, but it was evident in his emotional post-game presser how much of a burden he carries for the latest outcome. Kid wants it BAD.

The Bills simply can’t run back this same regime again next season after blowing a 4th quarter lead in four of their last five playoff losses, and blown out by Cincinnati in the other. If Sean McDermott holds onto his job, he needs to be investigated for possessing criminal levels of blackmail on someone high up in Buffalo. The fanbase has all but lost its trust for this team come playoff time, and the people who jump through tables to cheer on their football team are rightfully owed a fresh start!

To add to heartbreak, the Bills also found themselves on the wrong side of a highly controversial interception call that ultimately cost them the game. Making matters worse, somehow the same “was it a catch or interception” situation happened a few hours later with Davante Adams. The only difference is his was called a catch and helped the Rams secure their win.

Over in Denver, one moment, Broncos nation is riding into the AFC Championship with smiles on their face! Next, a sense of defeat with news of Bo Nix needing ankle surgery.

The Broncos are left entrusting Jarrett Stidham to quarterback the rest of the way after not throwing a regular-season pass since week 18 of last season. On the bright side, he had a near-flawless preseason, showing solid craft navigating Sean Payton’s offense. The Pats have also been beaten before on the biggest stage by a backup quarterback (Nick Foles in the Super Bowl).

But Denver is going to need its run game to pull its weight in a big way if things are to go their way. Which doesn’t exactly bode well for them coming off a 70-yard, 3.2 yards per carry outing and going to face a Patriots defense surrendering league-low points per game while playing nasty football up front.

And yes, Drake Maye or Jarrett Stidham will start in the Super Bowl before Josh Allen…

NFL

The Bears fall to the Rams on an OT game winning field goal to see their “cardiac” season end on a 20-17 loss. Caleb Williams slung three costly interceptions but managed to make one of the most impressive throws of the season. Sean McVay secures his 10th playoff win, most in Rams history.

No one in their right mind was placing a bet for Matthew Stafford to have zero touchdowns and Colby Parkinson being his leading pass catcher against the Bears normally vulnerable defense. If you did, you’re a rich individual right now.

The Bears had it all going on the ground and overwhelmed the Rams with 160 yards. But more questionable 4th down decision making from Ben Johnson proved costly when they had opportunities to take points. There’s the argument for “playing to win” rather than “playing not to lose” but the decision making teetered on reckless, with 12 4th down attempts in two playoff games, going 5-12.

Defensively, the Bears secondary was the ultimate factor keeping Chicago in this one. But it was Caleb Williams otherworldly 4th down touchdown pass to Cole Kmet that sent the sports world in craze. In the end, a lot of blame will point at Caleb Williams for his overtime interception, but DJ Moore absolutely dogged his route, overshooting an acre of open grass, allowing the defender to step up to make the play.

Hopefully the Bears enjoyed the voodoo magic season of late game miracles because their first place schedule for next season came out swinging with tough opponents.

CJ Stroud’s playoff struggles take an ugly turn with four interception outting in 28-16 loss to the Patriots. Despite more relatively sluggish offense for New England, the Patriots defense is playing their best football of the season after allowing 2.2 yards per carry to the Texans.

No one can really blame the people who ranked CJ Stroud over Jordan Love before the season, but wow was that one a miss. Mark that debate cooked.

The problem for Stroud is Davis Mills operated the offense without much noticeable decline in output when Stroud was injured. In fact, Mills led the offense through the Texans critical stretch of wins late in the season, going 3-1 in his four full games. The other problem for Stroud is his playoff interceptions have been errant, ugly throws and his game has taken one step forward, two steps back since his rookie season.

For the Patriots, Kayshon Boutte made what instantly slides in as a catch of the year candidate that played a significant factor in sealing the Patriots win.

MLB

The rich get richer in baseball as the Los Angeles Dodgers sign four-time All Star outfielder Kyle Tucker on four-year deal, with the second-highest average annual salary in history. More speculation rises around the need for a salary cap and salary floor in the MLB to prevent teams that can endlessly spend while forcing the bad teams to remain competitive.

Once again, the Dodgers will enter a season with an unacceptably stacked roster of 30+ All-Star selections among them and the alien talents of Shohei Ohtani leading the way.

As the MLB remains the only professional league among them, the NFL, NBA, NHL, and WNBA to not have a salary cap, the Dodger’s latest move sparked the debate over the need for change.

On one hand, realistically over half of the league stands no chance at hanging around in a bidding war with the top spenders, and a large portion of the league doesn’t even spend 1/4 of what the Dodgers do. The league lives and dies so much by their big markets being relevant, and players have become so used to making astronomical sums, that fans have been conditioned into “who would even want to see X team in the World Series?”

MLB owners also feel a true sense of they can not compete in the league, and that’s a problem! The MLB needs to find ways to incentivize every team to assemble a competitive roster rather than cashing it in with a bag of bums because they don’t have the deep pockets to spend fortunes on even a few moderately expensive assets.

But as it regards parity, the best defense against a floor or cap is that there are rarely repeat champions in the MLB, outside of the Dodgers now having done it. The other is that cheap teams will not stop being cheap teams without different ownership. Afterall, just because they hit their salary floor doesn’t mean they didn’t manipulate contracts or scrap up spare parts in order to do so. But it will hold owners accountable to do right by their fans, whose ticket prices keep going up, and actually try to win.

Where there’s hope in the next CBA is that the players know that players in other sports are far more mixed into revenue-sharing. This is a problem that can be fixed for both sides with a floor. Lower spend teams will have more flexibility to spend more on a player or two and the players get more revenue sharing to keep their contract size moving in the right direction. This also means doing away with the regional networks that have long handcuffed distribution and been a reason why MLB fandom is far more regionalized than the NFL or NBA.

The Mets make another free agent splash with adding Bo Bichette on a three-year contract. Deal comes after team already added Jorge Polanco and Marcus Semien to their infield this offseason.

The first downside to the Mets adding Bichette is that every fan is already preparing for disappointment and for them to underdeliver during the season. The second is that Bichette is not a natural third baseman, nor is he overly strong defensively on the hot corner. His -13 outs above average last season were 2nd-worst in baseball.

The upside is that the Mets bolstered their lineup with one of the purest hitters in the sport. Bichette is a safe bet to not swing and miss, as he has excellent bat-to-ball skills with power to any gap and is a true line drive hitter. If the Mets can land Bellinger or a similar big bat for the middle of the lineup, as they are rumored to do, it would make their top 5-6 guys in the lineup as good as anyone in baseball.

Bichette is the latest in a growing list of short-term, high-value deals for the Mets. Owner Steve Cohen gets to flex his wallet while GM David Stearns gets the flexibility to pivot the team construction whenever necessary. The Mets roster ranks 2nd in MLB in 2026 AAV (Average Annual Value), despite only Juan Soto and Francisco Lindor under contract past 2028.