January 20, 2026 4:31 am
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — The Miami Dolphins hired former Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley as their head coach on Monday. The moved ends a swift search for a coach who will be tasked with turning around a losing franchise that hasn’t won a playoff game in 25 years. Hafley replaces Mike McDaniel, who was fired earlier this month after going 35-33 in four seasons. The Dolphins also fired longtime general manager Chris Grier during the season. Hafley met with the Dolphins for a second interview earlier Monday before he was offered the job. He will rejoin new GM Jon-Eric Sullivan in Miami.
January 19, 2026 10:32 am
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — The Buffalo Bills have fired Sean McDermott after the team again failed to reach the Super Bowl in his nine seasons, according to two people with direct knowledge of the decision. The move came two days after the Bills were eliminated in a heart-wrenching 33-30 overtime loss at Denver in the divisional round of the playoffs. The Bills went 12-5 in the regular season and saw their five-year run atop the AFC East end. McDermott transformed the franchise into a perennial winner but was knocked for failing to make a Super Bowl appearance. Buffalo became the NFL’s first team to win a playoff round in six consecutive years but not reach the Super Bowl.
January 19, 2026 4:26 am
CHICAGO (AP) — Matthew Stafford and the Los Angeles Rams survived an incredible throw by Caleb Williams that forced overtime, beating the Chicago Bears 20-17 to advance to the NFC championship game. Harrison Mevis kicked a 42-yard field goal in OT after Kam Curl intercepted a deep pass by Williams on the Bears’ first possession of the extra period. Stafford completed a 16-yard pass to Puka Nacua to get the Rams into field-goal range and set up Mevis. The Rams will visit NFC West rival Seattle next Sunday in their first trip to the conference championship game since the 2021 team won the Super Bowl.
January 19, 2026 4:28 am
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — Drake Maye threw three touchdown passes, Marcus Jones returned one of C.J. Stroud’s four interceptions for a TD and the New England Patriots defeated the Houston Texans 28-16 to advance to the AFC championship game for the first time in seven years. They will play at Denver next Sunday. Their last AFC title game trip was during their run to their sixth Super Bowl title in the 2018 season. Maye finished 16 of 27 for 179 yards, but had an interception and fumbled four times, losing two. The eight combined turnovers were the most in a playoff game since 2015. The Texans have lost in the divisional round in three straight seasons under coach DeMeco Ryans.
January 19, 2026 4:30 am
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Indiana and Miami are playing for the national title Monday night, and if that has you scratching your head thinking “Who?” or “What?” then you are not alone. Even though a new world of paying players and rapid-fire transfers from school to school has shuffled the deck in college sports, nobody thought it would get mixed up this much. And even though both schools have been trending upward of late, both were listed as 100-1 long shots to win the championship at some point this season. Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza and the Hoosiers head into the game being played on Miami’s home field at Hard Rock Stadium as 8 1/2-point favorites, according to BetMGM Sportsbook.
January 17, 2026 7:00 am
The WPIAL basketball sprint to the finish line is underway. Just three weeks remain in the regular season. The second half of the campaign opened with a couple crucial 5A Section 3 games. Peters Township lost at Thomas Jefferson as TJ opened a two-game lead on the Indians. Ringgold lost at home to South Fayette, dropping the Rams into fourth place. Unbeaten Chartiers-Houston won at Fort Cherry in 2A Section 3, pushing the Rangers two games back. West Greene crossed the county and beat Carmichaels, taking over sole possession of the fifth and final playoff spot out of the section. Avella’s win over Beaver County Christian moves the Eagles into a first-place tie with Nazareth Prep at the halfway point. Trinity girls got their second half started with a win at Bethel Park, putting three games between the Hillers and the playoff cutlline. Here’s the Friday section scores for Washington & Greene County teams.
Girls
5A Trinity 40, Bethel Park 34
Boys
5A Thomas Jefferson 77, Peters Township 54
5A Trinity 59, Bethel Park 53
5A South Fayette 59, Ringgold 51
2A-1 Bentworth 51, Riverview 35
2A-1 Jeannette 80, California 33
2A-2 Chartiers-Houston 49, Fort Cherry 40
2A-2 Jeff-Morgan 58, Burgettstown 47
2A-2 Beth-Center 78, Mapletown 26
2A-2 West Greene 70, Carmichaels 47
1A Avella 66, Beaver County Christian 30
January 18, 2026 8:31 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Charlie Coyle scored the deciding goal in the shootout and the Columbus Blue Jackets beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-3 on Saturday night. Kirill Marchenko, Danton Heinen and Zach Aston-Reese scored for the Blue Jackets. Zach Werenski continued his four-game point streak with an assist. Elvis Merzlikins made 29 saves for the Blue Jackets. Sidney Crosby had a goal and an assist for the Penguins. He recorded his 511th multipoint game, tying Gordie Howe for fifth place in NHL history. Connor Clifton and Rickard Rakell also scored for the Penguins, and Arturs Silovs stopped 22 shots.
January 18, 2026 8:23 am
SEATTLE (AP) — Rashid Shaheed returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown, Kenneth Walker III rushed for three scores and the Seattle Seahawks advanced to the NFC championship game with a dominant 41-6 victory over the San Francisco 49ers. Sam Darnold threw a touchdown pass and got his first career playoff win in his first season with the Seahawks, who will host either Chicago or the Los Angeles Rams next Sunday with a trip to the Super Bowl at stake. The Seahawks led 7-0 13 seconds into the game thanks to Shaheed, who fielded the opening kick and took it 95 yards to the end zone.
January 18, 2026 8:15 am
DENVER (AP) — The Denver Broncos wrangled their biggest win in a decade from Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills but suffered an enormous loss in the process. About an hour after second-year quarterback Bo Nix led the Broncos to a 33-30 win on Wil Lutz’s 23-yard field goal in overtime, Denver coach Sean Payton returned to the postgame lectern to deliver the stunning news. He said Nix broke his right ankle a few plays before Lutz’s kick sent the top-seeded Broncos to the AFC championship game against either New England or Houston. Nix will have season-ending surgery Tuesday in Birmingham, Alabama.
January 18, 2026 8:25 am
NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Giants have hired John Harbaugh as coach. Harbaugh joins the Giants 11 days after he was fired by the Baltimore Ravens. He is a Super Bowl champion who guided Baltimore to the playoffs in 12 of his 18 seasons there. He and the Ravens won it all a year after the Giants’ most recent championship in the 2011 season. Harbaugh is now tasked with turning around a beleaguered franchise that has just two playoff appearances over the past decade. He gives New York a proven winner after seven coaches since Tom Coughlin failed to get past the divisional round.
