Nekias Duncan and Steve Jones went back to the mailbag for this one.
Questions range from the Minnesota Lynx’s ideal draft strategy, to the Portland Trail Blazers’ late-game offense, to the Houston Rockets’ ideal closing five, to zone-beaters for rec league basketball teams. We bounced around quite a bit — thank you to everyone who sent in questions.
As the Indianapolis Colts prepared to face the San Francisco 49ers last week, there was reason for optimism about the Colts’ defensive potential.
Just one week prior, Indianapolis had held Sam Darnold, Jaxson Smith-Njigba and their Seattle Seahawks teammates to 18 points and no touchdowns. Why not beat up on another playoff-bound NFC West team as prime-time football beckoned?
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But the Colts failed to stop, or even slow, Brock Purdy and the Niners in a 48-point outing that featured the 49ers’ first five-passing touchdown performance in 30 years. And while Indianapolis was not the first to fall prey to the 49ers’ offensive prowess this season, the Colts’ top weakness could offer a tell as the 49ers host the Chicago Bears on Sunday Night Football this weekend.
The Colts’ defense has ranked right around league average in points allowed (18th) and has defended the run fifth-best among NFL teams. But Indianapolis’ pass defense, and particularly its pass rush, has struggled mightily to disrupt opponents.
In fact, no team has pass-rushed less efficiently this season than the Colts, who rank dead last with a 28% pass-rush win rate, per ESPN’s metric. (For context, the top-ranked Cleveland Browns are thwarting pass blocks at a 47% clip.)
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The second-worst pass-rushing defense, at a 29% win rate: the Bears.
It’s a striking weakness for a defense that in several other metrics should worry opponents.
No team ranks better in turnover differential, one of the statistics that most clearly correlates with winning, than the Bears. Their +21 turnover differential is thanks in large part to their league-best 31 takeaways including a league-best 21 interceptions.
“When the ball’s in the air, they’re aggressive, they don’t hesitate,” Purdy said this week. “Obviously their guys have length and just athletic ability across the board. And I just feel like they’re really well-coached when it comes to being aggressive and not trying to second-guess things.
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“They pop, that’s for sure, on film.”
But will their opportunism without a pass-rush threat be enough to slow Purdy and Co.?
Will Purdy’s success vs. Bears hinge on how long he has in pocket?
Since returning from a big toe injury that sidelined him six straight weeks and eight total, Purdy has been on a heater.
He’s thrown 13 touchdowns to four interceptions in his return. The 49ers have won all five of those games.
Forget their somewhat-susceptible defense retooling after season-ending injuries to five-time Pro Bowl edge rusher Nick Bosa, four-time All-Pro linebacker Fred Warner and first-round rookie defensive lineman Mykel Williams. Forget also that their offense is playing without its top receivers of recent years, following an offseason trade of Deebo Samuel and an injury-related contract dispute with Brandon Aiyuk that has led to Aiyuk missing the entire season.
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Behind running back Christian McCaffrey, as well as Purdy and tight end George Kittle when they weren’t each missing at least five weeks, the 49ers have raced to 11 wins and a chance at the NFC’s top seed.
“I think it’s tough,” Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen said. “I think backs and tight ends are really tough matchups on a defense. If you have an outstanding receiver, there’s some things that you can really do to try to take those guys away. It becomes more challenging inside of the tight end, running back position. … I don’t think they do anything where they say, ‘We’re going to throw it to this guy on this particular play.’
“I think [Purdy] does a great job of getting through his progressions, and he throws it to the open guy.”
When the 49ers’ Brock Purdy has time in the pocket, he looks like one of the best QBs in the NFL. (Photo by Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
(Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Rhythm and time in the pocket are key to those progressions.
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With an average time of 3.31 seconds to throw Monday, Purdy threw five touchdowns to one interception. Three times this season, including twice before his six-week stretch out, Purdy threw multiple interceptions. Those three games correspond with his quickest times to throw, highlighted by a three-interception game vs. the Carolina Panthers when Purdy had just 2.9 seconds to throw, per Next Gen Stats.
Without pass rushers who can win, the Bears may struggle to disrupt the timing of Kyle Shanahan’s well-schemed offense and thus struggle to disrupt the rhythm of Purdy and his targets. The 49ers’ offense is not slow, per se; rather, it efficiently works through several options as Purdy patiently awaits his routes to develop.
“Just watch the speed at which they operate, the speed at which they operate up front in the running game and how they get to their landmarks,” Allen said. “All the offensive linemen are working in unison in terms of how they run their routes. Each player will run a certain route, and no matter who the player is, it looks the same.
“That, to me, is the detail in coaching.”
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Bears, 49ers matchup feels like ‘another playoff game’ with high NFC stakes
A defensive assistant who played against the 49ers this year emphasized the power of Shanahan’s scheme in the success of both Purdy and Mac Jones, who helped the 49ers to a 5-3 record in Purdy’s absence while throwing 13 touchdowns to six interceptions.
“Mac Jones played well, too,” the assistant told Yahoo Sports. “Their run game forces defense[s] to play single-high safety coverage, giving the QB easy reads.”
In-breaking routes inside the numbers and quick passes off quick reads follow. Purdy benefits when he has time; but that doesn’t mean he’ll always take it.
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“Plays to Purdy’s skill set,” the assistant said, adding that Shanahan “is a complete stud as play caller.”
And yet, if the 49ers were put before the College Football Playoff committee, their winning streak may not merit the credit of all five-game winning streaks. None of the five teams they’ve beaten in that stretch has more than eight wins; three have already been eliminated from postseason contention, while the Colts have less than a 1% chance of advancing, per Next Gen Stats.
Only the Panthers, still battling the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the NFC South title, are on track to make the playoffs. The Panthers intercepted Purdy three times.
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And in his two September games, against the playoff-bound Seattle Seahawks and Jacksonville Jaguars, Purdy threw two interceptions in each game.
So against the 11-4 Bears, another playoff team and the league leader in takeaways, Purdy will face his toughest opponent in three months.
“I want to score a touchdown every drive,” Purdy said. “So I’m looking at myself like, ‘All right, how did we not convert there?’ The interception at the end of the [Colts] game, like tip ball, it was high. So, just watching the film and being real with myself about how I could still be better with my accuracy on certain plays and being aggressive and not second-guessing on certain plays.
“I’m getting complacent with going through my reads and stuff and making the right decisions. So definitely have learned from that, but there’s always still room for improvement.”
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The Bears will aim to disrupt that decision-making as they visit San Francisco as 3-point underdogs in the matchup of 11-win teams.
They’ll prepare for the 49ers’ pre-snap motion and their versatility; their schematic wrinkles that “force the defense to communicate and try to get guys out of position,” cornerback Kevin Byard said.
A win over the Green Bay Packers, even without Jordan Love, resonated last week in Chicago. But the Bears hope they have not peaked.
Pass rush or not, they’ll be coming for Purdy.
“The more you win games, the bigger the next game is,” Byard said. “Obviously, we just got a huge win over Green Bay [last] Saturday night. But this game is even bigger. This is a team that’s already clinched the playoffs. This will be another time to be able to measure up to a team like that.
T.J. Watt has been ruled out for the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Week 17 game against the Cleveland Browns days after returning to the practice field
Just two weeks after he suffered a partially punctured lung and had to undergo surgery, Watt took the practice field for the first time on Wednesday as a limited participant, doing individual drills with the defense.
While head coach Mike Tomlin believes that Watt is fully recovered from the surgery, the four-time All-Pro won’t play this week.
“That’s a fair estimation, but again, I’ll let him speak in terms of his medical,” Tomlin said, via ESPN’s Brooke Pryor. “I think for me, to talk about injury is one thing. To talk about medical is something else. And so that’s one of the reasons why I’ve been a little bit hesitant besides my lack of expertise on the subject matter.”
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Watt was undergoing a dry needling treatment session at the team’s practice facility earlier this month when he started to feel discomfort. He was sent to a local hospital for testing, and then needed to undergo surgery to stabilize and repair a partially collapsed lung.
Watt missed the team’s last two games — wins over the Miami Dolphins and Detroit Lions — as a result. The 31-year-old has 53 total tackles and seven sacks in 13 games this season, his first after inking a then-record three-year, $123 million extension with the team.
The Steelers enter Sunday’s contest in Cleveland with a 9-6 record and can clinch the AFC North with a win over the Browns. If the Baltimore Ravens fall on Saturday night in their game against the Green Bay Packers, the Steelers will win the division, too. That would send them into their third straight postseason.
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While Watt would undoubtedly give the defense a big boost, the team won’t rush his return — especially if their playoff status is already secured come game time.
“It’s awesome to have him out there,” linebacker Alex Highsmith said. “Just seeing him back out in the field with us, he’s getting better every single day, so I think just to have him back out there, just as a leader for our group, it’s just awesome to see. Excited to see how he continues to work his way back.”
The Chicago White Sox made a surprising signing right before Christmas when they agreed to a deal with Japanese slugger Munetaka Murakami. As his posting window was nearing a close, there was a thought that the big-time power bat might not find a team. However, Murakami will be taking his power stroke to the South Side.
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On this episode of Baseball Bar-B-Cast, Jake Mintz is joined by special guest host Dani Wexelman as they break down the two-year, $34 million deal that will send the two-time Central League MVP to Chicago on a very much prove-it deal. They wonder how so many in the baseball world got his posting window wrong and what it could mean when he becomes a free agent at the age of 28.
Later, Jake and Dani talk about a flurry of moves that have gone on in baseball, including the Boston Red Sox trading for St. Louis Cardinals catcher Wilson Contreras, the New York Mets parting ways with another franchise staple and a wild three-team trade. They then get into the A’s extending Tyler Soderstrom and the San Diego Padres bringing back Michael King before making their picks for The Good, The Bad & The Uggla.
Photo by Geoff Stellfox/Getty Images
(Photo by Geoff Stellfox/Getty Images)
1:28 – The Opener: Murakami to the White Sox
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20:32 – Around the League: Red Sox trade for Contreras
Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love will miss Saturday night’s game against the Baltimore Ravens, the team announced Friday. Love is still recovering from a concussion he suffered during last week’s loss to the Chicago Bears. He’s also listed with a left shoulder injury.
Without Love, the 9-5-1 Packers will take on a 7-8 Baltimore Ravens team that needs the Pittsburgh Steelers to lose Sunday against the Cleveland Browns to have a chance at winning the AFC North.
The Ravens could very well be without their starting quarterback Saturday at Lambeau Field, too. Lamar Jackson is listed as doubtful for the Week 17 matchup as he deals with a back injury. Jackson hasn’t practiced all week. He missed three games earlier this season with a hamstring injury. He’s also battled knee, ankle and toe injuries.
Tyler Huntley is in position to make his second start of the season. After being elevated from the practice squad, Huntley helped the Ravens snap a four-game losing streak earlier this year. Replacing struggling backup Cooper Rush, Huntley got the nod in Week 8 and played a part in Baltimore returning to the win column with a 30-16 victory over the Bears.
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Huntley started 10 games in Jackson’s absence during his four-season stay with the Ravens from 2020-23, including a playoff game during the 2022 season. That season, Huntley went 2-2 down the stretch of the regular season and ended up earning a spot in the Pro Bowl.
If Baltimore wins Saturday, Pittsburgh loses Sunday and then the Ravens beat the Steelers in Week 18, the Ravens will sneak into the postseason as the division winner.
As for the Packers, they still have a shot to win the NFC North. But a Packers loss Saturday or a Bears win Sunday — they play on the road versus the San Francisco 49ers — would return the division crown to Chicago.
For some franchises, a campaign of 92 wins, a wild-card series victory and a well-fought, five-game NLDS loss would be dreamland stuff. During the regular season, Chicago’s offense was a legitimate wagon, the only lineup in baseball with six position players worth at least 4.0 bWAR: Nico Hoerner, Dansby Swanson, Ian Happ, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Michael Busch and Kyle Tucker. Wrigley Field, per usual, was packed and rocking for most of the summer as the Cubbies reached October for the first time since 2020 and won their first playoff game since 2018. There was a lot to like.
Yet at no point in the second half did the Cubs feel like legitimate World Series contenders. The gap between them and the eventual champion Los Angeles Dodgers was gargantuan. Milwaukee comfortably took the division crown. Kyle Tucker, for whom the Cubs traded away a haul last winter, was injured and underwhelming down the stretch and into the postseason. Chicago’s pitching was quite obviously substandard. There was a lot for fans to gripe about.
And halfway through the offseason, there still is, as president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer has done little this winter to quiet the noise. Because while the Cubs have signed more free agents so far this winter (6) than any other team, none of those additions is a true needle-mover. Five are one-year deals. Four are relievers. One was retaining Shota Imanaga on a qualifying offer. In short, the Cubs are not better today than they were the day they lost the NLDS.
Here are the three major questions that will define the rest of their offseason.
1. Will they try to replace Kyle Tucker?
That the Cubs seem entirely content to let Tucker, the market’s consensus top free agent, leave town remains one of this winter’s most underrated developments. Chicago parted with significant pieces to acquire him a year ago, yet the team appears to have zero interest in retaining his services moving forward. That says something about Tucker’s profile and the Cubs’ financial stinginess.
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With Tucker’s departure a foregone conclusion, the Cubs will need to replace that production somehow. Because for all the consternation over Tucker’s relatively underwhelming walk year, the 28-year-old posted an .841 OPS, banged 22 homers and won a Silver Slugger. Those types of players, as will soon be showcased by Tucker’s enormous contract, do not grow on trees.
At present, Chicago seems content to fill the void internally. Outfielder Owen Caissie, a 23-year-old who struggled in a brief, 12-game ristretto, has enormous power and prospect pedigree. That should earn the rookie a sustained look in right field at some point. The same is true for top prospect Kevin Alcántara. Seiya Suzuki DH’ed for most of 2025 but could slide back into right in order to give positionless rookie Moisés Ballesteros some DH at-bats.
In Moneyball parlance, Hoyer and Co. will seek to replace Tucker in the aggregate. That’s a reasonable strategy, given the glut of internal options and the holes on the pitching side.
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2. How will they reinforce the rotation?
Chicago’s 2025 pitching staff was far from a catastrophe. The quintet of Matthew Boyd, Cade Horton, Shota Imanaga, Jameson Taillon and Colin Rea was capable, sufficient and, as a unit, right around league average. Horton, in particular, was a revelation. The rookie dominated for the Cubs down the stretch, and his absence due to injury in October played a significant role in Chicago’s NLDS exit. As volatile as pitching can be, Horton looks like a real frontline arm.
Behind him, however, there are myriad questions. Boyd, a first-time All-Star at 34, was a wonderful story but ran a 4.63 ERA after the break and didn’t reach five innings in any of his three postseason starts. In fact, not a single Cubs pitcher worked past the fifth in the team’s eight playoff games. Taillon was effective in his two starts, yet the club clearly didn’t feel confident pushing him. Rea and Imanaga were both utilized after openers.
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Imanaga returned to town on the qualifying offer after a convoluted series of contractual maneuvering, but barring an unforeseen, late-career velocity jump, he’s probably a mid-rotation arm moving forward.
It doesn’t take a professional prognosticator to see that this rotation could use some help. Another frontline arm to pair alongside Horton would work wonders. Thankfully for Chicago, the starting pitching market has been slow-moving. Framber Valdez, Tatsuya Imai, Ranger Suarez and Zac Gallen all remain available. All four would be reasonable upgrades for the Cubs. However, all four will also require a significant financial outlay, the type Chicago has been hesitant to make of late. Speaking of which …
3. Are the Cubs really going to be this cheap?
If the season started tomorrow, the Cubs would enter 2026 with a payroll just over $200 million, good for 11th in MLB. For such a profitable, historic, popular franchise, that is an embarrassingly paltry figure. In no world should the Chicago Cubs trail the Arizona Diamondbacks in big-league spending. Wrigley Field and all the real estate that surrounds it is a piggy bank, yet Chicago’s ownership group continues to operate like small-market paupers.
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The Cubs have gone above the luxury tax just once since tearing down the Bryant-Báez-Rizzo core. That was in 2024, when Chicago surpassed the threshold by less than $3 million. Currently, the Cubs are projected by Spotrac for an outlay $43 million under the tax. Presumably, that should give Hoyer and Co. room to spend big on a free agent or two. However, all reporting out of Cubs World suggests that such a splash is far from a given.
Given the state of Chicago’s roster, that would be a shame.
In 2025, Alonza Barnett III became the Sun Belt Player of the Year and quarterbacked James Madison to a conference title, as well as the College Football Playoff. In 2026, he’ll likely play elsewhere.
Barnett announced Friday that he plans to enter the transfer portal after spending four seasons at JMU. The dual-threat signal-caller has one year of eligibility remaining.
“The moments I’ve experienced, in and outside of Bridgeforth Stadium, will be ones I’ll cherish forever.”
He later added: “JMU holds a special place in my heart and will forever be HOME. It always has been, and it always will be.”
Barnett described the opportunity to graduate from JMU as a blessing as well, and he noted his belief in new Dukes head coach Billy Napier, who is taking over the program from Bob Chesney.
The Dukes made the 12-team playoff as one of the five highest-ranked conference champions. They were one of two Group of Five teams to earn an automatic bid this season, the other being American champion Tulane.
JMU went down 34-3 in the first half against Oregon, but Barnett finished with 318 total yards of offense (273 passing and 45 rushing) to go with his three total touchdowns (two passing and one rushing) in a 51-34 defeat at Autzen Stadium.
In 2025, the 6-foot, 217-pound playmaker was responsible for 23 passing touchdowns and 15 rushing touchdowns. The latter tied for fourth-most among quarterbacks. Barnett completed 58.4% of his passes while throwing for 2,806 yards this season.
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Barnett has played under Chesney and now-Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti. He helped JMU continue its ascent after the program made the jump to the FBS in 2022 with Cignetti at the helm.
Michigan officials have signed Utah coach Kyle Whittingham to a five-year deal, sources told Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger on Friday. Whittingham is expected to join the team in Orlando for its Dec. 31 Citrus Bowl game against the Texas Longhorns, Dellenger reported.
Whittingham, 66, was 177-88 at Utah after taking over for Urban Meyer at the end of the 2004 season. The Utes won at least 10 games in eight seasons during Whittingham’s tenure and have had just three losing seasons. None of those seasons have featured fewer than five wins.
Hiring Whittingham brings a sudden December coaching search to a close just over two weeks following the dismissal of Sherrone Moore. The second-year coach was fired with cause on Dec. 10 after Michigan found evidence of an inappropriate relationship with a staffer.
Moore then allegedly went to that staffer’s residence and allegedly threatened to take his own life while telling her that she ruined his life. Moore has been charged with felony home invasion and two misdemeanors for that incident and has a January court date.
Whittingham had been a Utah football lifer since playing linebacker at BYU. He was a grad assistant with the Cougars for two seasons and then coached at Eastern Utah and Idaho State for seven years. He became Utah’s defensive line coach in 1994 and has coached for the Utes ever since. He became the school’s defensive coordinator in 1995 and held that job until Meyer left to coach Florida in 2005.
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Morgan Scalley was already announced as Whittingham’s successor at Utah after he had been named the team’s coach-in-waiting. Scalley is now expected to coach the Utes in the Las Vegas Bowl on Dec. 31.
Additionally, former co-offensive coordinator Matt Weiss is facing over 20 felony federal charges for allegedly accessing the accounts of female student-athletes across the country. Weiss, who was fired from his job at Michigan for alleged “computer access crimes,” was the Wolverines’ co-offensive coordinator with Moore in the 2022 season.
Before Michigan’s search turned to Whittingham, Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer and Arizona State’s Kenny Dillingham were mentioned as potential candidates. DeBoer issued a statement saying that he wasn’t interested in speaking with another school and Alabama’s win over Oklahoma in the first round of the College Football Playoff also threw a wrench in any Michigan hopes of hiring him.
With leading wideout Le’Meke Brockington not playing in Friday’s Rate Bowl, Minnesota needed someone to step up in a relatively thin receiver room.
Jalen Smith leaped at the opportunity. The redshirt freshman dove for a pair of touchdown catches, the second the game-winner in overtime.
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With a 20-17 victory, the Golden Gophers (8-5, 5-4 Big Ten) improved to 7-0 in bowl games under head coach P.J. Fleck and denied New Mexico (9-4, 6-2 Mountain West) its first 10-win season since 1982.
Smith came into the day with only two touchdown receptions this season. He matched that total while recording six catches for 64 yards.
His classmate, quarterback Drake Lindsey, gave him a chance in the end zone on third-and-8 in overtime after New Mexico started the extra frame with a 36-yard field goal.
Lindsey threw off his back foot. As the ball reached the paint, Smith lifted off. He extended in front of a Lobos defensive back to reel in the pass before securing the 12-yard score when he hit the ground.
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The first Lindsey-Smith connection was even more impressive. It also came on third down, this time on third-and-4 with less than two minutes left in the first half. New Mexico was leading 6-0 at that point.
That was, until Lindsey floated a pass to the back corner of the end zone. Lindsey put it only where Smith could get it, away from three trailing Lobos defenders.
The 10-yard touchdown pass hung in the air for what felt like a minute. Smith tracked it perfectly and laid out for the score.
Minnesota, which entered third nationally in fewest penalties per game (3.3), had nine penalties for 87 yards against New Mexico.
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The Golden Gophers survived those mistakes as well as a 100-yard kickoff return touchdown by Lobos senior running back Damon Bankston early in the fourth quarter.
Bankston came into the matchup averaging 30.4 yards per kickoff return this season and had already ran one back for six.
On Friday, New Mexico turned his house call into eight points. A trick play was behind the conversion. Running back Scottre Humphrey took a direct snap and handed it off to quarterback Jack Layne, who faked a pitch reverse and then threw over the middle to a wide-open Keagan Johnson for a two-point conversion that tied the game 14-14.
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That was a special play in a special New Mexico season that began with the Lobos bringing back just 34 players from the 2024 campaign, the fewest returners of any FBS team this season.
They were picked 11th in the Mountain West preseason poll. Then they finished 6-2 in conference play.
But in their first bowl game since 2016, they came up short in overtime versus a Minnesota team that just keeps winning this time of year under Fleck.
The announcement comes two weeks after Reaves first suffered a mild left calf strain, which caused him to miss three games. He was deemed ready to return last week, but left Thursday’s game against the Houston Rockets with another calf injury and will now be out for at least a month.
Austin Reaves has become the Lakers’ third star. (Photo by Jevone Moore/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
(Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Reaves probably wasn’t one of those players Redick had an issue with. He has been one of the NBA’s breakout players this season, averaging career highs nearly across the board and supplying an effective complement for stars Luka Dončić and LeBron James.
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If Reaves can return in exactly four weeks from Friday, that’s 14 games he’ll be missing. The NBA trade deadline is not long after that on Feb. 5, which is significant given the trade speculation around him.
