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Well, if you’ve been keeping up with my NFL playoff pick you won’t find it a surprise at all that I went 1-1 last weekend. I really thought that the Chiefs would beat the Bengals, but I was wrong about that one. Luckily for me the Rams made a comeback and beat the 49ers to allow me another break-even playoff weekend. I believe I’m 7-7 with my playoff picks so I hope you’re having much better luck than I am and I’m sure you are.

With the week off before the Super Bowl I won’t be making any predictions just yet and there’s no way I’d ever try and pick who’s going to win the Pro Bowl. With a game like that you could just put both names in a hat and pulled one out and you’d probably have just as good of a chance of winning as if you actually did the research and tried to come up with a winner. I’ll have to make Schaumburg Stu pick that game on the Sports Time Radio podcast this Friday.

For 87 years they were the Washington Redskins. Then for the past two seasons they were called the Washington Football Team. Just a few minutes ago they announced the new name and now they’re the Washington Commanders. Of course, there’s a new logo and new uniforms to go with the new name.

I’ll be interested to know what you think of this name. Do you like it? Or did you have another name in mind that you thought they should’ve gone with?

Yesterday the group representing the Major League Baseball owner and the player union met. Sadly, there’s been no real progress in these negotiations, and it was mentioned yesterday that it appears as though the start of spring training will now be pushed back.

Now I don’t know about you, but I am sick and tired of this. You’ll hear the players say that they’re doing this for the future of the game, but that’s a flat out lie. They’re doing it to put more money in their own pockets. If they actually cared about the future of the game there would be more of a pressing need about how the minor leagues are handle, but you never hear any of that being mentioned, do you? The owners aren’t innocent in this either as they want to add to their pockets as well. So, there is no real blame to hand out here as both sides are clearly at fault, but they’ll happily point their fingers at the other side and say they’re the reason for the problem.

It’s sad, but they have no idea what this does to their fans. Now you’ll have your diehards who will always comeback no matter how they’re treated, and I honestly thought I was one of them, but now I’m having second thoughts. Baseball has always been my first love when it comes to sports, but I have to tell you I’m completely fed up with this garbage. After seeing this announcement yesterday, I decided that when March 31st rolls around their better be regular season games ready to go or else I’m going to skip the 2022 baseball season. There are 15 games on the MLB schedule for March 31st ad they better be played or else I’m going to be very, very unhappy and I won’t watch one pitch of one at bat during the 2022 baseball season and that’s very, very sad especially as big of a baseball fan as I am.

I’d like to hear from you on this “lockout”. How did you handle the announcement of the possible delayed start of spring training? and what would be your reaction if the regular season doesn’t start on March 31st? Would you go to the extreme like I’m going to do and not watch a minute of baseball in 2022? Let me know what your viewing habitats would be.

Remember to listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast live on BlogTalkRadio.com, but if you miss the podcast live don’t worry all you have to do is swing by TuneIn.com and you can listen any time you want to.

You can also find me on Twitter @Burketime

When the NFL coaching carousel finally stopped this off season, we ended up with nine head coaching openings. Now in most cases these jobs fill up very quickly, but this off-season teams seem to be taking their time finding their new head coach. This week did finally have three teams make that move and named their new head coach.

The Denver Broncos were the first team to name a new head coach when they announced the hiring of Green Bay Packers offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett. The Chicago Bears were the next team to name a new head coach as they hired Indianapolis Colts defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus. Then yesterday the New York Giants became the third team to hire a new head coach when they named Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll as their new head coach.

All three of these hires are first time NFL head coaches, but one of these hires seem to draw much more media attention and intrigue than the other two and, in all honesty, we shouldn’t have been surprised by that at all.

Almost the minute after the Broncos named Hackett their new head coach the media started talking about Aaron Rodgers going to play with Denver next season. Now the Broncos where one of the teams that expressed quite a bit of interest in trading for Rodgers when there was all of the drama surrounding him last season. They’ve also tried to associate the fact that Rodgers fiancée actress Shailene Woodley has a home in the Denver area. It was also reported that Rodgers reached out to the Broncos to give Hackett a good recommendation for their open head coaching position. There are some interesting points to be made here and it will give the media something to talk about this off season, but is Denver really the place for Rodgers to finish his NFL career?

Rodgers will turn 39 years old next season and you have to wonder how much longer he wants to play. Since Rodgers has made just a little less than $264 million dollars in his NFL career, you’d like to think he’s not hanging around for a paycheck. At this point you’d have to think that Rodgers is looking for that second Super Bowl victory. Then the question becomes, can he get that with the Broncos?

Looking at the Broncos situation they do have a solid core group of running backs. Melvin Gordon led the team with 918 rushing yards, but Javonte Williams wasn’t far behind him with 903 yards. Rodgers is used to having two useful running back to work with. Denver doesn’t have a receiver anywhere near as talented as Davonte Adams, but not many NFL teams do, but they have an interesting group of young receivers that would benefit greatly from working with a quarterback like Rodgers. Tight end Noah Fant led the Broncos last season with 68 receptions. Cortland Sutton was the top wide receiver for the Broncos last season with 58 receptions, but it was Tim Patrick who led the Broncos with 5 receiving touchdowns. Patrick also had 53 receptions last season. Now the many people believe that the Broncos best wide receiver is Jerry Jeudy who caught just 38 passes last season due to the fact that he only played in 10 games last season due to injury. These four Broncos receiver range in age from 22 years old to 28 years old, so it would be a young group for Rodgers to work with. So, it looks like there are some positives on the Broncos offense if they somehow land Rodgers.

Now what you also have to remember is that Rodgers would be going from one of the weaker divisions in the NFL the NFC North to one of the tougher divisions in the NFL the AFC West. Instead of facing the Chicago Bears, Minnesota Vikings and Detroit Lions twice a season Rodgers would have to deal with the likes of Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs, Justin Herbert and the Los Angeles Chargers and Derek Carr and the Las Vegas Raiders twice a season. The Broncos went 7-10 last season and that put them in last place in the AFC West. If Denver had that same record in the NFC North, they would’ve only finished one place higher in the standings, but they would’ve been just one game out of 2nd place. It would definitely be a step up in competition for Rodgers which he might be interested in, but it would also mean getting to that Super Bowl would become much, much more difficult.

Now I have a feeling that this is going to pay out for quite some time just like last off season even though Rodgers has said that he’s going to make a decision soon will have to wait and see on that.

I think that when it’s all said and done, he ends up in a Packers uniform again next season especially if he’s seriously looking at a chance to return to the Super Bowl, but that’ just me. So, what do you think? Where does Aaron Rodgers end up playing next season if he does decide to play?

Now on to this weekend’s Conference championship games. Both games are on Sunday, but they’re not at the traditional staring times like during the regular season. The first game features the AFC as the Kansa City Chiefs host the Cincinnati Bengals. The game is on CBS and is scheduled to kickoff at 2:00 p.m. Then of course we get the NFC match-up which has the San Francisco 49ers visiting the Los Angeles Rams. This game is on Fox and is scheduled to kickoff at 5:30 p.m.

Well, I guess it’s time to make some picks. As I mentioned in the Wednesday blog, I’m 6-6 with my NFL playoff picks, so I hope you’re getting your betting advice somewhere else. Oh well here goes nothing.

Now back in Week 17 the Bengals did beat the Chiefs 34-31, but that game was in Cincinnati. This time around the Chiefs are at home and arrowhead stadium is one of the tougher venues in the NFL for visiting teams. Kansas City comes into this game as a 7-point favorite, and not only do I think that the Chiefs win the game I also think they’ll cover that 7-point spread.

The second has the buildup of two division rivals facing off for a trip to the Super Bowl. It’s also interesting to note that the 49ers have beaten the Rams in their last six meetings. Now we’re not talking about six games over a long time period we’re talking about six games over the last three seasons. This season the 49ers beat the Rams 31-10 in Week 10 in San Francisco and then the 49ers won their Week 18 match up 27-24 in overtime in Los Angeles. Even though San Francisco has controlled this match up the last three seasons the Rams are a 3 1/2-point favorite in tomorrow’s game. This is a tough game to pick, but I’m going to go with the Rams to win this one and cover as well.

Like we’ve been doing please drop your picks in the comments as I’m sure you’re doing better than I am at picking these games.

Don’t forget to listen to the live edition of Sports Time Radio podcast on BlogTalkRadio.com, but if you can’t make it for the live version of the podcast don’t worry you can still listen. The podcast is also available for you to listen to anytime you want on TuneIn.com

You can also find me on Twitter @Burketime

Yesterday the Baseball Writers Association of America announced the Hall of Fame vote and just one player was elected. Now this caused quite an uproar about a few players that didn’t get in, but I don’t understand what the big deal was about it.

David Ortiz received 307 votes which translated to 77.9% of the vote which gets him into the Hall of Fame. A player needs 75% of the vote to get into the Hall of Fame. Not sadly Oritz’s election was overshadowed by a bunch of sanctimonious idiots either on social media or actually on television complaining about two of the players that didn’t get in.

Two players in their last year on the Ballot Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens didn’t receive enough votes to get into the Hall of Fame and now it will be up to the veterans committee to decide their fate. Both Bonds and Clemens had been trending upward in the voting, but they couldn’t get to the require 75% of the vote to be elected to the Hall of Fame.

Like I mentioned this caused quite an uproar and I don’t get why two great players who would’ve been voted into the Hall of Fame anyway had to cheat and cost themselves this prestigious award. I don’t care what you’re going to try and sell here both of these guys used performance enhancing drugs and when they were confronted about it and had the chance to do the right thing and made save their reputations, they both choice to either stay quite or threaten to get litigious about the situation.

Don’t forget that Bonds trainer went to jail rather than admit anything that Bonds had use, but there was what they called “The Cream” that I believe he admitted to using. Of course, I also think he said he didn’t know what it was. Clemens had his DNA found on the end of a needle that was supplied by a former either steroid supplier or trainer. This was a little while back, but I believe he tried to say it was his wife who was taking steroids.

Now I fully believe that Bonds and Clemens both belong in the Hall of Fame as does Pete Rose, but their needs to be an asterisk or some type of explanation next to their plaques about their steroid use and in Rose’s case his gambling. All three where Hall of Fame type players and belong in there, but you have to realize that they did this to themselves. They weren’t forced to take whatever performance enhancing drugs they took, but they choose to do it and they’ve had to face the consequences every year at this time when the Hall of Fame vote come out.

Now there have been some people who have thrown Curt Schilling’s name in with Bonds and Clemens, but don’t forget that Schilling asked for people not to vote for him. So, Schilling not getting elected to the Hall of Fame this time seemed to be his choice, but there were some writers that still voted for him. You can argue all you want that Schilling should be in the Hall of Fame, but this was his decision as he’s said that he’ll take his chance with the veteran’s committee.

I won’t be surprised at all if at some point in time all three of these players end up in the Hall of Fame along with someone like Alex Rodriguez who received just a little under 35% of votes in his first year on the Hall of Fame ballot.

What I find quite odd is that one of these people mentioned Sammy Sosa. Now Sosa is the only player in Major League Baseball to ever hit 60 or more home runs three seasons in a row and he’s also a member of the 600-home run club. He hit 609 home runs to be exact. Sosa managed just 18.5% of the votes yesterday in his last year on the ballot. Sosa like Bonds and Clemens is suspected of using performance enhancing drugs but has never admitted to it just like Bonds and Clemens.

It’s very, very clear where I stand on Bond and Clemens, but I’d be interested to know is where you stand. Do you think the writers should’ve voted them into the Hall of Fame? And do you think that the veterans committee will eventually put them into the Hall of Fame?

Just a quick update on my NFL picks from last weekend. I was .500 again as I went 2-2. I was right with the Rams and the Chiefs, but I missed on the Packers and the Titans. For the playoffs I am 6-6, so I hope you’re doing better than I am. In Saturday’s blog I make my picks for this Sunday’s games.

Don’t forget to listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast live on BlogTalkRadio.com, but if you miss the live version of the podcast all you have to do is head over to TuneIn.com and you can listen to the podcast any time you want to.

You can also find me on Twitter @Burketime

Today starts the Divisional round of the NFL playoffs. There are four games this weekend as will get two today (Saturday) and two tomorrow (Sunday). Both #1 seeds are coming off of a Bye week to make their playoff debuts.

Last week their where six NFL playoff games and I was middle of the road with my predictions as I went 3-3. Both of the higher seeded teams I picked to pull off the upset got beat and one of the home teams I thought would win got upset. Well, let’s go through this weekend’s games and see how I do.

Today starts with the AFC’s #1 seed the Tennessee Titans hosting the Cincinnati Bengals. Tennessee is currently a 3 1/2-point favorite and they do get Derrick Henry back for this game. Now it’s unclear how much Henry will be on the field or how many carries he’ll actually get, but just having him on the field will force the Bengals defense to respect the run. Cincinnati will be missing defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi due to injury. With the return of Henry to the Titans backfield I’m going to go with Tennessee to win this game.

The second Saturday game has the NFC’s #1 seed in action as the Green Bay Packers will host the San Francisco 49ers. The 49ers where the only higher seeded team to advance from the wild card round ad everyone seems to be talking about the way they run the football. Deebo Samuel has really come on when he gets some carries while Elijah Mitchell does the grunt work running the football. Now this is a formulable tandem running the Football for San Francisco, but I guess since they had last week off people have forgotten that the Packers may have the best running back duo in the NFL with Aaron Jones and A.J. Dillion. There’s also been a lot of talk about the weather for this game, but it’s just going to be cold and there’s not expected to be any wind or snow so the players should have no issues with the weather. Green Bay is a 5 1/2-point favorite and I’m picking them to win this game.

On Sunday we start off with the Los Angeles Rams on the road to face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. it’s possible that Tampa Bay will have to play this game without two of their starting offensive linemen as tackle Tristan Wirfs and center Ryan Jensen are listed on the injury report and will both be game time decisions. If one or both of these players miss the game, it could put the Buccaneers at a disadvantage against a Rams team that can rush the passer. I’m sure there will be a lot of talk about the quarterbacks in this game as Tom Brady is well Tom Brady and Matthew Stafford just got hit first playoff win last week. Tampa Bay is a 2 1/2-point favorite in this game, but with the possibility of them having to play without those two linemen make it tough to pick them. I’m going to put my trust in the Rams and go with them to eliminate the defending Super Bowl champions.

This weekend’s playoff games wrap up on Sundy night as the Kansas City Chiefs host the Buffalo Bills. Both teams are coming off of pretty impressive performances last weekend and the Chiefs have been established as a 2-point favorite. Arrowhead Stadium is one of the tougher venues in the NFL for visiting teams, but the Bills did go into Arrowhead in October and get a 38-20 win over the Chiefs. Sadly, I don’t think the outcome of that game will have any effect whatsoever on this game. I think what this game is going to boil down to is which young star quarterback plays better. At one point in time Patrick Mahomes was considered the best quarterback in the NFL and even though he had what has to be considered as a down year he’s still one of the best. Josh Allen was very impressive last week against the New England Patriots and he’s as much of a threat running the football as he is throwing it. This is a tough game to pick, but I don’t think the Bills will be able to go into Arrowhead twice in the same season and Beat the Chiefs so give me Kansas City in this one.

Alright there you go. I’m going with Tennesse and Green Bay to win today and they I’ll take Los Angeles and Kansas City to win on Sunday. Let’s see how I do this weekend. Just like last weekend I want to know who you’re picking in these games. Please leave your picks in the comment section and I can see how you do.

I hope you’ve been listening to the Sports Time Radio podcast live on BlogTalkRadio.com, but if you miss the live edition of the podcast all you have to do is head over to TuneIn.com and you can listen to the podcast any time you want to.

You can also find me on Twitter @Burketime

If you’ve ever listened to the Sports Time Radio podcast you may have hear me mention how I’m not a gambler. Well with my picks for wild card weekend it’s a good thing I’m not. I ended up going 3-3 with my predictions so at least I didn’t have a losing record. I won with Tampa Bay, Kansas City and Los Angeles while Las Vegas, Dallas and New England where my losing picks. I’ll try again this Saturday and see how those picks work out for me.

Now with a couple of the teams that lost there where some odd things that happened in their games. Now the media has spent most of their time focusing on the end of the Dallas Cowboys vs. San Francisco 49ers so I’m going to go the other direction and discuss the situation that occurred in the Cincinnati Bengals vs. the Las Vegas Raiders.

The play I’m taking about had Bengals quarterback rolling to his right and just as it appeared he was going to go out of bounds he threw the football into the end zone. Tyler Boyd of the Bengals came open in the back of the end zone for a touchdown.

Now at first there was speculation that Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow had stepped out of bounds before the threw the football, but on the replay, you can clearly see that Burrow was inbounds when he releases the football.

So, if there was no problem with the pass itself then what was the issue with the play? Well as it turned out one of the referees inadvertently blew their whistle. Now by NFL rule when a situation like this occurs the down is supposed to be played over. Well for some reason this officiating crew didn’t bother to do that and allowed the touchdown to count for the Bengals.

What I’m having a difficult time figuring out with this call is why didn’t someone from New York where they go to get replay calls step in and help them get this call right? You’d think that a correct call would be what they’d want, but for some reason it didn’t happen.

Now referees for playoff games are assigned by how well they do during the regular season, so you would’ve thought that these where some of the better officials in the NFL, but apparently not. Overall, this officiating crew didn’t have a very good game and the NFL has said that they won’t be used again in these playoffs.

Now just because that touchdown shouldn’t have counted doesn’t mean that play had any effect on the outcome of the game. Don’t forget that the Bengals where on the 10-yard line and could’ve scored a touchdown on the next play or worse case would’ve been able to add a short field goal.

Even though I picked the Raiders to win, and I’d love to be able to jump up and down and complain that the referees cost me one of my picks, but let’s face it that’s not the case. Cincinnati was clearly the better team in that game and even though the Raiders had a chance to tie the game they were unable to.

Don’t forget that on the last offense play where Derek Carr threw the interception to seal the game for the Bengals the football wasn’t even thrown in the end zone. That means if that pass would’ve been completed the game clock would’ve probably run out before the Raiders could’ve gotten another snap off.

So, the Bengals got their first playoff win in 31 years and now they move into the divisional round. Cincinnati travels to Tennessee to face the #1 seeded Titans in the first game this coming Saturday.

So let me know what you thought of the ending to the Bengals/Raiders game this past weekend. What kind of affect do you think that the blown call by the referees had on the game?

Now you can listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast that I mentioned early on BlogTalkRadio.com, but if you miss the podcast over their just swing on by TuneIn.com and you can listen to the podcast whenever you want to.

You can also find me on Twitter @Burketime

It’s wild card weekend in the NFL. We get six playoff games in total this weekend. There are two to be played today, three to be played on Sunday and for the first time ever there’s a Monday night playoff game.

Let’s take a look at this weekend’s game and make some picks since I didn’t make Schaumburg Stu make picks on the Friday edition of the Sports Time Radio podcast.

Our weekend playoff action starts in Cincinnati where the Bengals will be hosting the Las Vegas Raiders. I honestly think this come be the under the radar game of the weekend. Both teams are 10-7 coming into the game and there’s a chance that will see a lot of points scored. If you like those odd type of stats here’s one for you. Derek Carr is 0-5 in games where the temperature at game time is under 38 degrees and that is forecasted to be the case when this game kicks off. The Bengals are a 5 1/2-point favorite, but I do have some concerns about Joe Burrow’s knee. He left the Bengals Week 16 game because of the injury and didn’t play in Week 17 to rest it. The one thing the Raiders do well is pressure the quarterback. Las Vegas actually leads the NFL in quarterback pressures so if Burrow is having any issues with that knee the Raiders pass rush might give him some trouble.

As I’ve mentioned before I’m not a betting man, but I like the Raiders to get a win in this one.

The second Saturday game is a matchup of division rivals as the New England Patriots visit the Buffalo Bills. These teams split their two meetings in the regular season, and it was difficult to get a read on either team in those games. The Patriots defense struggled down the stretch especially against the run, but the Bills best running back seems to be their quarterback, Josh Allen. Even though Allen is a big man you don’t want your quarterback to take any extra hits and if he’s going to be the main rushing threat for the Bills that’s kind of inevitable. If New England can have success running the football you know that they’ll stay with it like they did in that odd first meeting between these two teams, but you have to think that Mac Jones is going to have to be smart with the football for New England to have a chance in this game. Buffalo is a 4 1/2-point favorite in this game.

This is a tough game to pick, but I have a tough time going against Bill Belichick in a playoff game so I’m going with the Patriots in this one.

On Sunday we start of our day of football with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers starting the defense of last season’s Super Bowl win as they host the Philadelphia Eagles. Now on paper this looks as though it should be an easy win for Tampa Bay, but don’t forget that they’ve been battling some injuries and Philadelphia is very good at one aspect of the game that can keep it close. The Eagles have one of if not the best rushing offense in the NFL and if they can have success running the football it keeps Tom Brady on the sidelines and controls the clock. Of course, it’s clear what Philadelphia is going to try to do on offense, so you’d think that the Buccaneers defense will be prepared for it, but you never know. Philadelphia’s only real chance is to do what they do best and run the football even if they don’t have success with it early, they’ll have to stay with it because they can’t try to score with Tampa Bay.

Tampa Bay is an 8 1/2-point favorite in this one and while I do think they’ll win the game I’m not sure that they’ll cover the spread.

The second or middle game on Sunday has the San Francisco 49ers visiting the Dallas Cowboys. I’m really not sure how this game will go and that’s because you just never know what Cowboys team is going to show up. Dallas has weapons at their skill positions, but sometimes they don’t click for whatever reason. It will be up to Dak Prescott to get the Cowboys offense rolling against a good 49ers defense. San Francisco is a difficult team to play against since they don’t rush and will stick with the running game no matters what. This game may just come down to quarterback play and if Jimmy Garoppolo can play with Prescott the 49ers might be there at the end of this one with a chance to win. This game has the smallest point spread of the weekend as Dallas is a 3-point favorite.

I know a lot of Cowboys fans and it would be interesting to see their reaction if Dallas lost this game, I think they’re going to get a win here, so I’m taking the Cowboys in a close game.

Then on Sunday night we go from the game with the smallest point spread to the game with the largest point spread as the Kansas City Chiefs host the Pittsburgh Steelers. Kansas City comes into this game as a 12 1/2-point favorite and if you heard Ben Rothlisberger’s comments earlier this week it sounds like he agrees with the oddsmakers. There’s really no reason that Kansas City shouldn’t win this game. The Steelers just kind of suck into the playoffs while the Chiefs have been expected to be a Super Bowl contender since losing last year’s game. However, the Chiefs have had their ups and downs this season and at times they’ve played down to the level of their competition. If that’s the case in this one it’s possible that Pittsburgh could steal a playoff win on the road and allow Rothlisberger to continue his career, but I don’t think that will happen.

I’m going with Kansas City to get the win here, but I’m not sure I’d lay the 12 1/2 points as that’s a big number for a playoff game.

As wild card weekend extends into Monday night, we get another division match up as the Los Angeles Rams host the Arizona Cardinals. These teams split their two matchups this season, but Arizona did get their win in Los Angeles and the Cardinals have proven to be a tough road team this season. The Rams have been installed as a 4-point favorite in this game and if Matthew Stafford can avoid those costly mistakes, it seems as though the Rams should advance. It’s clear that Kyler Murray misses DeAndre Hopkins and one of the other Cardinals receivers have stepped up to try and filled that void. The Rams did lose running back Darrell Henderson, but they got Cam Akers back to help carry the load in the backfield. It does look like Arizona will have J.J. Watt back for this game, but you have to wonder how many snaps he’ll be able to play and if he’ll be able to give the Cardinals defense any assistance in this game.

With the way Arizona has played on the road it’s difficult to pick against them, but I think their luck runs out here. I’ve got the Rams in this one.

So, I have the Raiders, the Patriots, the Buccaneers, the Cowboys, the Chiefs and the Rams this weekend. Who do you have?

Have you been listening to the Sports Time Radio podcast? The podcast airs live on BlogTalkRadio.com, but if you miss the live edition of the podcast don’t panic. You can listen to the podcast any time you’d like by going to TuneIn.com.

Feel free to look me up on Twitter, I’m @Burketime

Once the NFL regular season ends, but before the playoffs start teams seem to make their coaching changes and this year was no exception. Now we already had head coaching openings with the Jacksonville Jaquars and the Las Vegas Raiders, but there were five more teams who decided to fire their head coach and in three of those cases the general manager is also gone.

Four of the five head coaching firings where expected. The Denver Broncos fired Vic Fangio. The Chicago Bears fired Matt Nagy and Ryan Pace. The Minnesota Vikings fired Mike Zimmer and Rick Spielman. The New York Giants allow Dave Gettleman to retire before firing head coach Joe Judge.

These firings weren’t a surprise even though there was some talk that the Giants were going to keep Joe Judge. The one big head coaching firing came out of Miami as the Dolphins have decided to move on from Brian Flores.

The Dolphins ended the season 9-8 just missing out on a wild card spot. Don’t forget this team was 1-7 having loss 7 games in a row this season. Miami then went on to win 8 of their last 9 games this season. A lot of teams and even coaches would just quit on the season after starting 1-7, but the Dolphins continued to play for Flores which makes this coaching change a little odd.

Flores was the Dolphins head coach for three seasons ad while he does have a losing record overall at 24-25 Miami posted two winning seasons in the three years, he was their head coach. The only negative on Flores two winning seasons is that the Dolphins didn’t make the playoffs in either of them.

Now Dolphins owner Stephen M. Ross really didn’t give a reason for Flores’ dismissal, but he did say the team would be looking for a high-profile coach to replace Flores. Now most people took this to mean that the Dolphins would go after University of Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh since Ross is a graduate of Michigan, but he said that wouldn’t be the case.

So, if Harbaugh isn’t the hire, then what high profile coach is out there for the Dolphins to pursue?

It’s being reported that the Dolphins have asked the Buffalo Bills permission to interview their offensive coordinator Brian Daboll for their head coaching opening, but is Daboll really a high-profile hire? I’d even wonder if he’s a higher profile name than Flores was when he was hired.

Miami is in a tough division that was dominated by the New England Patriots for many years and now the Bills have stepped up and appear to be set up to stay on top of the division for now. So, no matter who Miami hires as head coach it’s going to be an uphill battle to not only catch the Bills, but the Patriots who’ve bounced back after being down last season to grab a wild card spot this season.

So, who do you think Dolphins should hire as their next head coach? And then who do you think the Dolphins will hire as their next head coach? I’d also like to know if you were surprised like I was when you heard the news of Flores being fired.

Don’t forget to listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast live on BlogTalkRadio.com, but if miss the live edition of the podcast all you have to do is head over to TuneIn.com and you can listen any time you want to.

You can also find me on Twitter @Burketime

The final week of the NFL’s regular season starts today and while the majority of the playoff spots are set there are still some teams that have chances to either get into the playoffs or fall out of the playoffs.

For me the most interesting of the playoff scenarios has to do with the Indianapolis Colts, Las Vegas Raiders and the Los Angeles Chargers.

The Colts are currently in the playoffs and the winner of the Raiders/Chargers game would get the final AFC playoff spot, but there is a way that both the Raiders and the Chargers could wind up in the playoffs and the Colts could end up missing the playoffs.

If the Colts lose their game Sunday in Jacksonville against the Jaquars and the Raiders/Chargers game ends in a tie both the Raiders and the Chargers would make the playoffs and the Colts would be the team that would miss out on the playoffs.

What really cracked me up about this scenario was there where people in the media that actually were suggesting that the Raiders and the Chargers should get together and agree to tie so both teams could get into the playoffs. Obviously, that was one of the stupidest suggestions ever made, but there where media members out there who were serious about it. Of course, neither team had any interest in doing that and since they’re in the same division and even though they’re not considered rivals I’m sure each team would like nothing better than to keep the other from making the playoffs.

Now this whole situation would have to start with the Jaquars being able to beat the Colts. Now the Colts at 9-7 are the clear favorites to win this game against the 2-14 Jaquars, but Indianapolis has had its struggles in Jacksonville. Believe it or not the Jaquars have actually beaten the Colts five or six consecutive times in Jacksonville so while the Colts are the clear favorite in this game because of this stat I’m not sure you can count the Jaquars out of this game.

Now once this final week of the regular season is over there will be teams focusing on the payoffs and other teams looking to make coaching changes. We already have two openings in Las Vegas and Jacksonville, but there are a few more teams that may be in the market for a new head coach once this regular season ends.

As I’ve mentioned before I live in the Chicago suburbs, and everyone is convinced that this is Matt Nagy’s final game as Bears head coach. There has also been some talk that another NFC North team the Minnesota Vikings may move on from their current head coach Mike Zimmer. There are also some other coaches who could be on the hot seat after Week 18. It’s possible that the Seattle Seahawks will be getting rid of Pete Carroll. It’s been reported that the Denver Broncos could replace their current head coach Vic Fangio and with the way the Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper has talked about head coach Matt Rhule you’d think that they’ll be making a change there.

The Jaquars have already started to line up interviews for their head coaching vacancy. They have plans to interview former Houston Texans head coach and current Alabama offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien. Jacksonville is also interested in interviewing Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Bryon Leftwich who is a former Jaquars quarterback.

Do you think this is an advantage for Jacksonville that they’re getting their interviews lined up while these other teams are still deciding if they’ll be making a head coaching change? It seems like it’s smart move on the Jaquars part.

Schaumburg Stu’s weekend got off to a good start as he had the Chicago Bulls covering the 5 1/2 point spread against the Washington Wizards, and they did as the Bulls won 130-122. For the rest of the weekend Schaumburg Stu has the Vegas Golden Knights beating the Chicago Blackhawks tonight. On Sunday Schaumburg Stu has the Minnesota Vikings beating the Chicago Bears in their season finale and then on Monday Schaumburg Stu likes the University of Alabama to win the national championship by beating the University of Georgia.

I hope you’ve been listening to the Sports Time Radio podcast. You can hear the podcast live on BlogTalkRadio.com, but if you miss the podcast live just head on over to TuneIn.com and you can listen anytime you want to.

You can also find me on Twitter @Burketime

Well, we’re headed into the final week of the NFL regular season. Yes, there are 17 games this season and I’m sure it won’t be ling until they add an 18th, but as for this season this weekend is the end of the regular season. So, with that in mind it’s time that we start hearing talk about who’s going to win the MVP.

Now in most cases the voters don’t seem to look past the quarterback position, but this year there are two non-quarterbacks that deserve some very serious consideration for MVP.

Jonathan Taylor of the Indianapolis Colts is the NFL’s leading rusher with 1734 yards heading into the final week of the regular season. The Colts need to get a win this weekend to lock in their playoff spot, so Taylor is definitely going to play and add to his yardage total and possible his touchdown total which sits at 18 currently. Those 18 touchdowns also lead the NFL and Taylor also has more carries than any other player with 317. Taylor also has nine games with more than 100 yards rushing with a season high of 185 yards. Taylor currently has a streak of four consecutive 100-yard games and has also gone over 100 yards in seven of the Colts last eight game. Taylor isn’t what you’d call proficient in the Colts passing game, but he has contributed 37 receptions for 342 yards and 2 receiving touchdowns.

I hope that the voters have been paying attention to the kind of numbers Taylor has put up and give him serious MVP consideration.

The other non-quarterback that I hope the voters are smart enough to include on their MVP ballots is Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp.

Kupp currently leads the NFL in receptions with 138, yards with 1829 and receiving touchdowns with 15. Kupp actually has a chance to set single season records for receptions in a season and yards in a season, but Kupp came out this week and said if he does break those records his accomplishments should have an asterisk because he had 17 games to do it in. Kupp has nine games this season where he’s put up over 100 receiving yards and in two of those games, he’s went over 150 receiving yards. Kupp has also had five games with 10 or more catches and has a season high off 13 catches in a game this season. Don’t forget that Kupp is doing this as the Rams clear cut #1 receiver. The next closest player with receptions on the Rams is tight end Tyler Higbee who has 55 receptions.

Now I’m sure there’s a case to be made for someone like Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady or even Joe Burrow to win the MVP, but isn’t it time that a non-quarterback gets this award. Sometimes I feel as though the voters take the easy way out and don’t look past the quarterback position. Let’s hope they manage to find a way to do that this season and either Taylor or Kupp picks up the MVP award.

Believe it or not the last time a quarterback didn’t win the MVP award was in 2012, yes ten years ago. Do you remember who won the MVP award in 2012? It was Adrian Petersen who was with the Minnesota Vikings then. Only three running backs have been named MVP in the last 16 seasons. Just in case you’re wondering a wide receiver has never won the MVP award since they started handed this award out in 1957.

So, jump in here and let me know who you think will win the NFL MVP award this season. Do you see either Taylor or Kupp having a serious chance? Or do you think the voters will do what they always do and just give the MVP to a quarterback? I’ll be interested to see how you think the voting will go.

I hope you take or have the time to listen to the Sports Time Radio podcast. The podcast airs live on BlogTalkRadio.com, but if you miss out on the live edition of the podcast don’t worry. Iyou do miss it just head on over to TuneIn.com and you can listen to the podcast any time you want to.

You can also find me on Twitter @Burketime if you want to look me up.

Now I wouldn’t say I’m a huge college football fan, but I’m not completely down on the sport like I am the NBA. I don’t sit down and watch every minute of a game, but I’ll watch enough of it to know what’s going on. Yesterday I did have some interest in the college football semifinal games and sadly they were both terrible.

I had some hope that in the first college football playoff game of the day that the underdog non-power conference Cincinnati Bearcats would be able to play with the powerhouse that is the Alabama Crimson Tide, but they couldn’t. I thought the second college football playoff game would be much more competitive as the Michigan Wolverines faced off against the Georgia Bulldogs, but that game turned out to be a bigger joke than the first game.

It was very clear from the first time Alabama had the football that Cincinnati wouldn’t be able to play with them. Alabama went straight down the field running the football on ever play to almost show their dominance before they scored their first touchdown on a short touchdown pass.

After that Alabama touchdown Cincinnati did respond by driving the football down the field, but they had to settle for a field goal. After that drive it looked like there was a possibility that Cincinnati might be able to score against Alabama, but the big question would be could their defense step up and make stops.

Unfortunately, the Cincinnati defense was unable to slow down the Alabama offense and it ended up being the Alabama defense that stepped up as Cincinnati was only able to add one more field goal to the scoreboard and they went down very easily to Alabama 27-6.

With the dominance Alabama showed in this game I’m sure we’re going to have to listen to a lot of people say that a non-power conference team like Cincinnati didn’t belong in the college football playoffs, but the Bearcats did go undefeated this season and they deserved to at least have a shot at a championship even though they were no match at all for Alabama.

Now the second game featuring Georgia vs. Michigan should’ve been a much better match up than the opening college football playoff game, but Georgia made sure that wasn’t the case.

Georgia put up 17 points before Michigan final got on the scoreboard with a field goal, but after Georgia hit on a 57-yard pass play to take a 27-3 lead going into halftime I think just about everyone knew that this game was over.

I guess you could say that the second half of the game was a little more competitive, but let’s face it Michigan was never back in the game. Georgia added a touchdown in the 4th quarter before Michigan finally got themselves into the end zone for a touchdown and two-point conversion to make the final score 34-11.

So, it looks like we’ll have a rematch in the college football championship game.

Georgia and Alabama met in the SEC championship game back on December 4th. The game was pretty close for a half as Alabama had a 24-17 lead at halftime before pulling away in the second half for a 41-24 victory.

That was the win that actually got Alabama into the college football playoff since they had one loss coming into that game and a second loss might’ve knocked them out of consideration for one of the four playoff spots. I do have a feeling that the committee who ranks these college football teams for the playoffs would’ve somehow found a way to get a two loss Alabama team into that four-team playoff.

The college football championship game will be played Monday January 10th at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis Indiana. The game has a scheduled start time of 7:00 p.m. and it will be broadcast on EESPN, but I think we all know it won’t start on time.

If you’re interested in betting on the game Georgia has opened as a 2-point favorite which is actually a bit of a surprise for me after the way Alabama handled them in the SEC championship. Maybe the opening line is based on the Georgia revenge factor.

I know the game is nine days away, but I still want to know who you’re picking to win this one. Do you see Alabama picking up another national championship or does Georgia get its revenge and win the title?

I hope you’ve been able to listen to the live edition of the Sports Time Radio podcast on BlogTalkRadio.com, but if not, you know you can swing by TunueIn.com and listen any time you want to.

If you’re interested, you can also find me on Twitter @Burketime.