Greetings from the sports desk located somewhere below the main deck of the Good Pirate Ship RedState. Sammy the Shark and Karl the Kraken, appropriately contrite after their richly deserved earlier chastisement for neglecting their writing duties, assure me they are hard at work covering all elements of today’s sports scene …
Or something like that.
Anyway, today (January 4, 2026) marks the end of the NFL regular season. It is playoff seeding Sunday, followed by move-your-stuff-out-of-your-former-office Monday, as the usual round of coaching and front-office terminations will transpire among franchises not participating in this season’s postseason festivities.
At season’s start, more than a few trendy trendies were tabbing the Kansas City Chiefs and Detroit Lions to tangle in this year’s Super Bowl, to be played in San Francisco Santa Clara, California, home of the 49ers. They won’t be there. The same trendy trendies will be furiously tapping away on their keyboards, insisting they knew all along the Chiefs and Lions would miss the playoffs altogether. Pay no attention to the bylines with their names on them from last September, insisting otherwise. I have no idea what it takes to be a sports pundit at ESPN et al, but I have noticed that the farther up the popularity chain you get, the less demand there is for actual sports knowledge. Buried deep within the bowels of ESPN’s website, some knowledgeable analysts have the wherewithal to know of what they speak. You will never see them on ESPN television.
The most important game of the day, as far as the playoffs are concerned, is the last game of the day in which the Baltimore Ravens visit the Pittsburgh Steelers. The winner plays next weekend. The loser doesn’t. Simple enough.
If the Steelers lose, it’s difficult to envision this being anything other than Aaron Rodgers’ last game. It is painfully obvious that he is in the twilight of his career and has no more seasons left in him. It is only slightly less difficult to envision the scenario of this being the final game of whichever head coach — Baltimore’s John Harbaugh or Pittsburgh’s Mike Tomlin — doesn’t come out on top in terms of heading the team of which they have long been in charge. Both have enjoyed lengthy runs of success that would have the fans of long-running doormats such as the New York Jets or the Oakland Los Angeles Oakland Las Vegas Raiders dancing in the streets. Both have also, in recent years, mastered the art of being just good enough not to be good enough. Which isn’t … you know … good enough.
There is also the enigma of Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson. Often injured due to trying to be the original one-man gang, as Baltimore’s philosophy has long been that whenever their offense is on the field is a perfect time to take a snack break and let us know which play you make, Lamar. One wonders if Jackson occasionally glances out west at, say, SoFi and wonders what it’d be like to play quarterback for a franchise (*coughramscough*) that actually values its offense in general and quarterback in particular.
Enjoy the rest of the weekend, everyone.
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