Bo Nix injury mars thrilling NFL divisional round; College Football Playoff National Championship preview

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Good morning, sports fans! Carter Bahns with you on this holiday Monday. The leagues in action today will honor the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. while delivering a full day of action as much of the country takes the day off from work. Everything culminates tonight in the College Football Playoff National Championship.

Speaking of postseason football, we have heaps of NFL storylines to address after a divisional round that featured a little bit of everything, including two overtime thrillers.

Let's get to it.

🩼 Five things to know Monday

1. The NFL's conference championship games are set, and Bo Nix will watch from the sideline. The Broncos will play for the AFC Championship, but they'll do so without their starting quarterback in action. Nix fractured a bone in his ankle on the penultimate play of overtime in their divisional round win over the Bills and is scheduled to have surgery on Tuesday. Jarrett Stidham is in line to start just his fifth career game and make his first pass since the 2023 season when Denver hosts the Patriots, who defeated the Texans in a turnover frenzy. On the NFC side, the top-seeded Seahawks obliterated the 49ers to punch their ticket to the conference title game against the overtime-winning, drama-surviving Rams.
2. Bo Bichette agreed to terms with the Mets. The dominoes continue to fall in free agency after Kyle Tucker signed with the Dodgers. Bichette immediately became the biggest target on the market, and it did not take long for the Mets to pivot onto the shortstop after missing out on Tucker. The parties agreed to a three-year contract worth $126 million which includes opt-outs after the first and second seasons, no deferrals and a full no-trade clause. This figures to be the first of multiple moves for New York, while the Blue Jays are next up after missing out on their top two targets. The Phillies also shifted their focus and re-signed J.T. Realmuto to a three-year deal.
3. Kevin Stefanski will take over the Falcons, while Matt LaFleur remains with the Packers. Less than two weeks after his firing in Cleveland, Stefanski found a landing spot in Atlanta. The two-time AP Coach of the Year will be tasked with snapping the Falcons' eight-year playoff drought. LaFleur, meanwhile, agreed to a multi-year extension to remain in Green Bay, ending the uncertainty that swirled after his latest postseason hiccup, which dropped him to 3-6 in playoff games.
4. The transfer portal closed, but not before Darian Mensah departed from Duke. The Blue Devils made Mensah one of the highest-paid players in college football last offseason, but he is out after just one year and is now the most highly sought-after player in the portal. Miami is aggressively shopping for a quarterback and is a team to watch in Mensah's recruitment, according to CBS Sports' Chris Hummer and Matt Zenitz. Mensah's last-minute portal entrance at the Friday deadline wrapped up the 2026 window.
5. The Golden Knights traded for Rasmus Andersson. Perceived as the best defenseman available on the trade market, Andersson is headed to Las Vegas in return for a 2027 first-round pick, conditional 2027 second-round pick, defenseman Zach Whitecloud and defensive prospect Abram Wiebe. Barring a contract extension, Andersson is essentially a rental to fill the spot in the top four vacated by injured Alex Pietrangelo. The Flames agreed to retain 50% of his remaining contract.

🏆 Do not miss this: College football will crown a national champion tonight

Miami fans could be in for their best night in 25 years. While the Indiana faithful might enjoy the highlight of their entire fandoms. Either way, the winner of Monday's College Football Playoff National Championship will snap a lengthy title drought. And for those fortunate enough to secure historically expensive tickets, seeing their team hoist the trophy should be worth every penny.

Here's what to expect in the championship game:

• Expert picks: The majority of our college football panel is riding with Indiana to not only win the national championship but to do so by a wide margin. See why Tom Fornelli, Chip Patterson and others foresee a blowout victory incoming for the Hoosiers.
• Tale of the tape: Two of the three most accurate quarterbacks in the nation go head-to-head in this matchup. A pair of outstanding defenses will duke it out. So who has the edge? We have the answer for every position.
• Keys to the game: Miami's biggest key to victory is that the pass rush has to be dominant. For the Hoosiers, protecting the ball is one of five necessities.
• What's at stake for Miami: National championship No. 6 is within reach for the Hurricanes. The 2025 squad can stake its claim as one of the greatest teams in program history if it wins one more game. Freshman sensation Malachi Toney can put a bow on a remarkable debut season, too, and set the stage for more title runs in the years to come.
• What's at stake for Indiana: Curt Cignetti is already a legend for turning a historically downtrodden program into a two-time playoff participant. Winning the national championship would make his efforts one of the greatest sports stories in American history. His quick turnaround of the Hoosiers is nearly unmatched by any team, collegiate or professional.

🏈 NFL divisional round fallout, conference championship lookahead

Is the Super Bowl window closed for the Bills? That may be more reality than overreaction after their loss to the Broncos, wherein Josh Allen committed four turnovers. The window is wide open, though, for their AFC East rivals. The Patriots overcame three turnovers of their own to defeat the Texans, and with a Bo Nix-less Denver squad awaiting them in the conference championship game, everything is ahead of them.

Looking ahead to next weekend …

The Seahawks are a machine on an eight-game winning streak. They'll look to make it nine straight against their NFC West rival Rams, who survived an overtime scare and remain in search of another Super Bowl for potential MVP Matthew Stafford. On the other side of the bracket, the Patriots continue to beat good teams and squash the narrative about their favorable regular-season schedule. If they beat the Broncos, though, expect a few naysayers to discredit them for taking down a backup quarterback.

As for the teams whose seasons came to an end …

Are the 49ers' best days behind them? Kyle Shanahan has overseen a prolific run, but the blowout loss to Seattle indicates the title-chasing era in San Francisco may be winding down. That looks to be the case in Buffalo, too. Allen was in tears postgame after a heartbreaking overtime defeat, which halted his postseason run short of the Super Bowl for a seventh consecutive year. Young talent could keep the Bears and Texans in contention over the years to come, though. What Caleb Williams achieved on a miracle touchdown in Sunday's defeat alone is enough to spark optimism for 2026.

👍👎 The best (and not-so-best) of the rest

• The ink is dry as the Giants finalized a five-year deal with John Harbaugh after days of last-minute negotiations.
• College basketball is down to three undefeated teams -- No. 1 Arizona and No. 8 Nebraska and Miami (Ohio) -- after No. 2 Iowa State and No. 10 Vanderbilt both lost back-to-back games. Meanwhile, Kentucky is on a run of comeback victories and Virginia looks like the biggest threat to Duke in the ACC.
• On the women's side, there are three top-25 games on today's slate, and we picked the winner of each.
• The Knicks fell to 2-8 in their last 10 games, giving them the NBA's second-worst January record. Here's what that means for their championship outlook.
• DJ Lagway is set to make his transfer to Baylor official. The prized quarterback considered other schools despite committing to the Bears 10 days ago and is now set to sign with the Big 12 program.
• The Braves expect shortstop Ha-Seong Kim to miss four to five months after undergoing surgery to repair a torn tendon in his right middle finger. He could rejoin the lineup this summer.
• We have likely seen the last of Aaron Rodgers in a Steelers uniform, as he is not expected to return to Pittsburgh in the wake of Mike Tomlin's exit.
• College Football Playoff executives did not reach a decision on whether to expand the field after a lengthy meeting. Friday is the deadline to vote for expansion.
• Chris Gotterup won the first tournament of the PGA Tour season with a final-round 64 in the Sony Open.
• President Donald Trump said he plans to sign an executive order cementing an exclusive four-hour broadcast window for the Army-Navy football game. Other college football games would be prohibited from overlapping the rivalry matchup.
• Don't get your hopes up for Curt Cignetti to make a move to the NFL. The Indiana coach remains staunch in his commitment to college football.
• Crystal Palace captain Marc Guehi is finalizing a move to Manchester City.
• The NFL fined Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair for wearing eye black that stated "stop the genocide."
• As expected, Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss filed a lawsuit against the NCAA in search of a sixth year of eligibility.
• The vibes at Real Madrid are off after fans whistled the team and specific players after their El Clásico defeat and cup losses.
• Air Force suspended basketball coach Joe Scott pending an investigation into the treatment of cadet-athletes.
• Clippers owner Steve Ballmer filed a motion to dismiss a fraud lawsuit tied to the Kawhi Leonard salary cap circumvention allegations.
• On WWE Smackdown, Cody Rhodes declared his entry for the Royal Rumble and booked a match with Jacob Fatu at Saturday Night's Main Event.
• Jai Opetaia, the IBF and The Ring cruiserweight champion, signed with Zuffa Boxing.

📺 What we're watching Monday

🏀 No. 10 TCU vs. No. 14 Ohio State (W), Noon on Fox
🏀 Bucks at Hawks, 1 p.m. on NBC Sports Network
🏒 Sabres at Hurricanes, 1:30 p.m. on TNT
🏀 Thunder at Cavaliers, 2:30 p.m. on NBC
🏀 No. 8 Michigan vs. No. 5 Vanderbilt (W), 2:30 p.m. on Fox
⚽ AFC Bournemouth at Brighton & Hove Albion, 3 p.m. on USA Network
🏒 Capitals at Avalanche, 4 p.m. on TNT
🏀 Mavericks at Knicks, 5 p.m. on NBC
🏀 No. 23 Notre Dame at No. 1 UConn (W), 5 p.m. on Fox
🏈 CFP National Championship: No. 1 Indiana vs. No. 10 Miami, 7:30 p.m. on ESPN
🏀 Celtics at Pistons, 8 p.m. on NBC
🎾 Australian Open, first round, 11:15 p.m. on ESPN2