Whittingham next Michigan coach; Packers in free fall; Bills reign ends; Jokic's historic holiday

TRENDING FAN CONVERSATIONS FROM THE WEEKEND IN SPORTS

DECEMBER 25 - 28, 2025

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After Sherrone Moore was fired for fraternizing with staff members, the Michigan Wolverines arrived late to the coaching carousel party and hired Kyle Whittingham. Winner of 177 games, two Pac-12 titles after coming over from the Mountain West, and holder of a perfect 13-0 season with the Utes, Whittingham brings a level of staying power very few boast, but fans remain torn.

First and foremost, this is a great hire. Whittingham’s identity matches exactly what Michigan always wants to be: defensive-minded, disciplined, and gritty as hell. For Wolverine fans tired of being little-brothered by rival Ohio State, the other good news is that their new coach has had a knack for taking out his top rival (BYU), having been on a nine-game win streak before BYU started out-dumping Utah in funding for their respective programs. To that, Whittingham is a coach with a track record of winning with less. As an extremely disciplined and competitive team, Utah has consistently found a way to be winners under Whittingham. Now, he has all the resources in the world, brings tremendous experience, and the guy might be one of the most likable, cleaned up acts in the entire business. Which, to put it lightly, is exactly what Michigan needs right now. He is not a 10+ year solution, but he feels like the perfect hire to cleanse the program of its demons, get them back on track, and he has enough time to win over the locker room and recruits. The critics will say he’s old. To those critics, age matters none if he answers the question, “Who is the best person to lead and coach this team?” If age is your holdup, then the spin zone is Michigan gets an extremely competitive coach in his final run and greatest opportunity to finally win “the big one” before sailing off into the sunset.

NFL

The NFL MVP battle comes down to the wire between Drake Maye and Matthew Stafford, sparking back and forth from fans online. Maye cleans up his masterful sophomore season by clinching the AFC East for the first time since 2019 on a five touchdown performance. Stafford wraps up with the overall better numbers but will fall short of a division title despite the obvious potential for a deep playoff run.

The argument for Drake Maye is simple: he’s delivered MVP numbers with an aging Stefon Diggs as his best pass catcher, an average offensive line, and a lacking run game until the latter part of the season. It became a chore months ago to keep track of all the milestones Maye was hitting, and now he’s finishing the season as the first in history to complete 90% of passes with 250+ yards and 5+ TDs in a single game. Maye finishes as the only QB with over 70% passing on the season and holds the best mark for completion percentage over expected. He’s tops in QBR and rating, and top three in yards and touchdown passes. However, he still takes too many sacks, and his dominance came against what rates as the 10th easiest strength of schedule in NFL history. Comparatively, the argument against Stafford is that he will finish third in his division, he has two all-world receivers (Nacua and Adams), an elite run game, the greatest offensive coach in football, is only 15th in completion percentage, and has a far worse bad throw percentage. That said, Stafford boasts the most passing touchdowns in football (10 more than Maye), the lowest interception total (three less than Maye), and is practically tied with Maye in rating and passing yards. He also had the most dominant stretch of football from anyone at any position this season, with a run of 28 consecutive TD passes without an interception, surpassing Tom Brady’s 25 straight in 2010.

Austin’s Pick: Stafford.

Why: MVP is a narrative award. Stafford’s career arc to this point and being on the final leg of his journey will seal the deal on a somehow still lingering Hall of Fame debate around a career that’s only missing one final accolade. As incredible as Drake Maye has been, if he’s going to play the easiest schedule since before 2000, he had better blow away everyone else in everything, and he didn’t do that.

The Packers allow 307 yards on the ground in a 41-24 loss to the Ravens and will limp into the playoffs with barely a pulse. Losers of three straight, the Packers will need miracles to elevate their playoff hopes and potentially save jobs this offseason. Ravens keep playoff hopes alive with the win and the Steelers falling to the Browns. Packers fans lash out over who is to blame for the downfall.

The Packers are beaten and battered on both sides of the ball, with their injury report rivaling a CVS receipt in length (and those are LONG). So, of course, victory will be more difficult to achieve. But 307 rushing yards in one game? Backups galore or not, King Henry or not, these are still professional football players. That is as embarrassing as it gets. Of all teams locked into a playoff spot, the Packers carry the least momentum and health imaginable and have reverted to a bottom-feeder defensive unit since losing Micah Parsons. Who knew one man could cover up so many flaws? This season marks the third straight playoff appearance for the Packers as the 7th seed in the NFC, a spot that didn’t even exist until 2020. Matt LaFleur's teams have been unable to shake mediocrity and a “one and done” reputation in the playoffs, and the lack of immediate and/or long-term impactful first-round pick contributions from General Manager Brian Gutekunst’s draft profile will bring both of their duties under scrutiny this offseason in the event of another early playoff exit.

The Bills officially cede the AFC East back to the Patriots with 13-12 loss to the Eagles, becoming the first team in history to win 5+ straight division titles and not make the Super Bowl.

For being a perennial MVP candidate, Josh Allen had about as bad a miss imaginable at the end of the game on a two-point attempt to win it. To make matters worse, Jalen Hurts somehow had zero, yes, zero, passing yards in the second half, and the Eagles still managed a victory. It’s impossible to wrap one's brain around that one. As the Bills' reign over the AFC East comes to a close, they’ve become one of the most unpredictable teams in the league. One week it’s, “Josh Allen is Superman,” before a quick turnaround to, “Josh Allen needs more help.” Unless the Bills miraculously find a way to finally climb to the Super Bowl, Bills Mafia better buckle up for an offseason of franchise-altering decisions as their Super Bowl window inches closer to shutting.

Brock Purdy continues his impressive stretch as the 49ers take down the Bears 42-38 in what could be considered the game of the season. The shootout saw Christian McCaffrey tie LaDainian Tomlinson as the only players in history with three seasons of 2,000+ scrimmage yards and 15+ touchdowns. The teams combined for 80 points, 927 total yards, 11 touchdowns, and 58 first downs.

Despite playing with a JV defense all season and dealing with numerous injuries on offense, the 49ers are somehow competing for an NFC West title in the final week of the season against Seattle and are one of the most formidable teams heading into the playoffs. Fans around the NFL are still wondering if the defenses forgot they had a game to play, but the offenses put on a show for the ages. Like most games for Chicago this year, the game again came down to the Bears needing a game-winning drive to secure a victory. This time, their luck didn’t hold. After battling injuries to start the season, Brock Purdy’s recent return to health has been perhaps the best form of his career. Over the last three weeks, he’s accumulated 976 total yards, 13 total touchdowns, and a 131.5 passer rating. Folks, that’s MVP-level football. Shanahan deserves Coach of the Year consideration as much as anyone, and McCaffrey had an MVP impact as the only season-long constant on offense. On the other side, Caleb Williams is still struggling to complete an acceptable percentage of passes, but he seems to be increasing the number of throws that make you wonder if we are witnessing one of the greatest arm talents in recent history. Colston Loveland breakout game, by the way.

The Raiders officially land the first overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft after getting taken to the shed by the Giants 34-10, who were also battling for the first overall pick.

This marks the third time the Giants have won away the first overall pick since drafting Daniel Jones, which is about on brand for a Joe Schoen ran team. As for the Raiders, they are so far away still that they might be better off trading back and signing Malik Willis from the Packers to take over at quarterback, who looks like a safer investment than either Fernando Mendoza and Dante Moore, flashing his electrifying upside filling in for Jordan Love. Mendoza and Moore are the prized quarterbacks in this draft but neither would likely be the top QB pick in quite a few draft classes. Both will still be a welcomed, high potential jolt for Las Vegas. In New york, the Giants front office doesn’t instill much confidence in the fan base, and Jaxson Dart wasn’t exactly “their guy” in last year’s draft, so you never known what they’ll do. But Dart has by all accounts done an incredible job navigating a rookie season that saw his elite wide receiver and pitbull of a running back go down to injury for the year to compound with his head coach being canned mid-way through. Throwing in the towel on Dart already, as if he’s the problem, would be an egregious, poorly calculated, premature decision.

NBA

Nuggets Center Nikola Jokic spent his Christmas torching the Timberwolves with a 56-point triple-double, putting him 28 away from Westbrook's record. The “Joker” headlines one of the most dominant seasons for a center in history with a league-leading 15 triple doubles while also averaging a triple double per game to help lead the Nuggets towards the top of the West.

The "old heads" out there might not like this, but it's reasonable to say that what Jokic is doing this season outweighs Shaquille O’Neal’s most dominant season. It's a different era and different type of basketball, but averaging a triple-double from any position is a historic feat and its own tier of dominance. Would Shaq dominate Jokic down low every single time? Absolutely. Would Jokic win out in every other aspect? Also yes. Being physically unstoppable around the hoop is not the same as outright dominance in every facet of the game. Jokic boasts this season’s highest single-game point total and leads the NBA in most 50-point games, triple-doubles, true shooting percentage, and player efficiency rating. Granted, LeBron never had to deal with prime O’Neal, but he even had to admit that Jokic is the most dominant player he’s ever shared a floor with. This is coming from a guy who has been on every USA team since entering the league.