NFL: What's next for Harbaugh?
Jim Harbaugh has kept quiet about the speculation surrounding his future for nearly a year. So he has no plans to participate now as he begins what could be his final week coaching the San Francisco 49ers.
Jim Harbaugh has kept quiet about the speculation surrounding his future for nearly a year.
So he has no plans to participate now as he begins what could be his final week coaching the San Francisco 49ers.
He wouldn't say whether 49ers executives had come to him to let him know if his alma mater, the University of Michigan, reached out about bringing the coach to Ann Arbor.
"What will happen will happen, what won't happen won't happen," Harbaugh said Monday. "Like the players, like the coaches, we're dedicated to doing our job, finish what you start. That's the mind-set."
Harbaugh, who will turn 51 on Tuesday, has lost four straight games for the first time in his four-year stint. He has one year remaining on the $25 million, five-year contract he signed in January 2011 to leave Stanford for the 49ers (7-8).
San Francisco finishes its disappointing first season at $1.3 billion Levi's Stadium on Sunday, hosting Arizona.
Manziel's season is over
Perhaps fitting, Johnny Manziel's final play was a 1-yard loss.
He didn't get very far in his rookie season.
Manziel will sit out Cleveland's finale with a hamstring injury he sustained during Sunday's loss to Carolina in his second career start. Manziel's injury, coupled with a shoulder injury to Brian Hoyer, could force the Browns to start undrafted rookie quarterback Connor Shaw, who spent the season on the team's practice squad, in the season finale at Baltimore.
Once again, the Browns' quarterback situation is a total mess.
Coach Mike Pettine said Monday that Manziel's injury needs several weeks to recover, meaning the hyped first-round draft pick will end his first NFL season where it began - on the sideline. The Browns only got to see Manziel in two starts and he was on the field for just 72 plays, making it difficult to evaluate him as their future quarterback.
Bears call on Cutler
Quarterback Jay Cutler is returning to the Chicago Bears' lineup and will start the final game of the season after Jimmy Clausen suffered a concussion.
The Bears are going back to Cutler for this week's game at Minnesota after benching him for Sunday's loss to Detroit.
Clausen was injured on a helmet-to-helmet hit by Detroit's Ezekiel Ansah while scrambling on Chicago's final drive of Sunday's 20-14 loss. Ansah received an unnecessary roughness penalty.
Surging Seahawks
When Marshawn Lynch got to his feet following the longest touchdown run of his career, there was still one more defender to shrug off.
Safety Earl Thomas went racing off the sideline to leap on Lynch and add to the Seattle Seahawks' end-zone celebration.
The Seahawks are the hottest team in the NFL with a five-game win streak and the chance at a second straight NFC West title and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. And Seattle (11-4) has rediscovered having fun while reestablishing itself as the favorite in the NFC.
It was never more evident than Sunday night's 35-6 rout of Arizona. No moment was more telling than Lynch's 79-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter.
"I had as much fun last night as I've had coaching.. . . All of the stuff that was happening was just a blast," Seattle coach Pete Carroll said on his weekly radio show Monday morning.
Niner being probed
A woman alleges former San Francisco 49ers defensive lineman Ray McDonald sexually assaulted her after a night of drinking and after she injured her head in a fall by his swimming pool, according to court documents unsealed Monday.
The woman told authorities she has no memory of the sexual encounter that occurred in McDonald's San Jose house, which police say occurred Dec. 13. The court papers quote McDonald as saying in a text message that he believed the encounter was consensual.
No charged have been filed, and the San Jose police continue to investigate. McDonald could not be reached for comment, and his agent, Tom Condon, didn't immediately respond to text and phone messages.
Raiola suspended
The Detroit Lions will be shorthanded when they face Green Bay for the NFC North title.
Lions center Dominic Raiola has been suspended for one game after he stepped on Chicago Bears defensive tackle Ego Ferguson on Sunday. The punishment was handed down by Merton Hanks, the NFL's vice president of football operations. The league said this was Raiola's sixth rules violation related to player safety since 2010.
Lions players were not available to reporters Monday, and coach Jim Caldwell addressed reporters before the suspension was announced.