matt Page 38 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

It’s been a rough year in Chicago, NFL award voters, give Bears fans a hug and give Roquan Smith some love
I don’t know if anyone knew this, but the 2021 season was a rough one for the Chicago Bears. They finished with their worst record since 2017. Of course playoff hopes being extinguished before the fire ever got to really burn will anger any fanbase, but it’s not like a double-digit loss season is un...

We didn’t even get four hours of optimism
I, and every other Bears fan, have become far too used to this Black Monday cycle. Third time in eight years, seventh time in my lifetime. And there’s supposed to be a routine to it. News of whichever dope your team is firing leaks in the morning. You then hear of a press conference scheduled later ...

White coaches owned the NFL’s ‘Black Monday’ before it even started
Even when you’re twice – and sometimes three times – as good, it still doesn’t matter. Because in the NFL, owners would rather lose with someone that looks like them instead of winning with a Black head coach....

See? Americans love ties!
You could feel the collective frustration of every sports fan outside of Pittsburgh last night. It was as if we all punched the couch at the same time. You could hear it in the wind, a spiritual “THUNK.”...

Week 18 NFL Betting Primer: Best Over/Under, Spread, Teaser and Prop Bets
Unfortunately, the last week of the year has arrived. On a brighter note, the column has produced nine straight over/under victories, so technically, we’re actually seeking a sweep of the second half of the season in totals. Soak it in as we enter the historic first-ever “Week 18.”...

Coach of the Year should come down to two guys
Across all sports, the Coach of the Year Award has a misleading title. It’s not about who the best coach is; it’s about which team stunned the most people, or which team overcame the most adversity while staying near the top of the league. That’s what voters are really looking for. By that criteria,...

You play to win the game… or do you?
More than half of the NFL remains in playoff contention heading into the final week of the season. That includes teams like the Packers, who have clinched home-field advantage throughout the postseason, and it includes teams like the Raiders and Chargers, who play each other but can both get into th...

Rookie Quarterback Rankings: Mac on the attack... again
It’s Week 17 of the NFL season, and our rookie quarterbacks have just about made it through the year, with only a couple of whom living up to the hype. Now let’s look at how the 2021 rookie class fared in Week 17. ...

Week 17 NFL Betting Primer: Best Over/Under, Spread, Teaser and Prop Bets
Happy New Year, though sadly, that means we’re winding down on the football calendar, entering the penultimate week of the campaign. Let’s make the most of it while we still have regular season football....

IDIOT OF THE YEAR: The worst of 2021
Happy holidays, you filthy animals, and welcome to Deadspin’s annual IDIOT OF THE YEAR extravaganza. Within these hallowed slides are 50 of the year’s least bearable dorks, whose transgressions range from “just kinda silly,” to “dangerously stupid,” to “Trevor Bauer.”...

Madden NFL paved the path for other video game sports franchises
When you think of video games and sports, you think of John Madden. (Thank god this is written, and I don’t have to try to do the voice.) The first sports video game I ever played was Madden NFL 92 when I was 6, and even though it’s not my preferred game anymore, there’s no doubt it’s still the de f...

Why do Rams quarterbacks always struggle in the second half?
Since Week 9 of the NFL season, Matt Stafford has thrown for 1,862 yards (266 yards per game), 14 touchdowns, and 9 interceptions. Those are good numbers. Not great, but good. From Weeks 1-8 though, Stafford was on a different planet. The move from Detroit to L.A. seemingly sparked new life into the...

It’s fine if Sergiño Dest and Weston McKennie move in January
There was a feeling of triumph when USMNT fans first heard that American players had landed at some of the biggest clubs in the world in 2020. It was something of an arrival, not just for the players themselves but the US program as a whole. When you can place players at Barcelona and Juventus, you’...

Week 16 Takeaways: If your holiday season was dampened by your favorite NFL team, buck up, 2022 just might return some holiday cheer
As I gather myself after watching the Insecure series finale, I’m also confronted with the fact that the 2021 NFL season is also nearly complete. Of course there’s a five-week postseason awaiting us football fans, but less than half of the NFL teams will play in that tournament. Fans in Chicago, New...

Week 16 NFL Betting Primer: Best Over/Under, Spread, Teaser and Prop Bets
Merry Christmas. May our holidays be filled with more profits through Week 16....

IDIOT OF THE YEAR: 40 of the dullest tools from 2021's shed
Happy holidays, you filthy animals, and welcome to Deadspin’s annual IDIOT OF THE YEAR extravaganza. Within these hallowed slides are 50 of the year’s least bearable dorks, whose transgressions range from “just kinda silly,” to “dangerously stupid,” to “Trevor Bauer.”...

The best from bowl games with non-New Year’s Six names
Making fun of lesser bowl games is easy and fun. Do we really need a Boca Raton Bowl? Or a LendingTree Bowl? Or a Gasparilla Bowl? Or a Cameilla Bowl? Or a Hertz Bowl? Or a Guaranteed Rate Bowl? (Only one of those is fake.) No, probably not. The answer to “Who’s better: Eastern Michigan or Liberty?”...

Inter Milan lost their two best players and manager but might win Serie A again anyway
It is not agreed upon defending-your-title strategy to watch one’s manager, and one of the best in the business in Antonio Conte, walk out the door in a huff mere weeks after said title due to disagreements over the financial planning. Though to be fair, that is kind of Conte’s finishing move. Still...

IDIOT OF THE YEAR 2021: Cole Beasley, Enes Kanter, Ron DeSantis, and more doofs
Happy holidays, you filthy animals, and welcome to Deadspin’s annual IDIOT OF THE YEAR extravaganza. Within these hallowed slides are 50 of the year’s least bearable dorks, whose transgressions range from “just kinda silly,” to “dangerously stupid,” to “Trevor Bauer.”...

Let’s get back to a hockey World Cup
Now that it’s official and the NHL players won’t be going to the Olympics, some disappointment is understandable. The idea that Connor McDavid won’t play for Canada in a best-on-best tournament until his 30s is pretty ridiculous. Or that we may never get that line with him and Sidney Crosby. This to...