Le Journal

The Chicago Bears and their fans are forced to confront familiar feelings following Sunday’s 20-17 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Divisional Round. The franchise’s once incomprehensible Super Bowl dream was much clearer in the final minutes of this bitterly cold playoffs clash, but a Caleb Williams interception and subsequent LA scoring drive ended an exhilarating season. The team is not wallowing in self-pity, though. The theme of the day is growth. Chicago has plenty to appreciate after a terrific run that included an NFC North title and its first postseason win in 15 years. The Bears also know there is much they can improve on before the 2026-27 campaign begins. Rome Odunze is one such individual whose continued development will be crucial. The 23-year-old wide receiver was painfully honest while reflecting on his uneven season. Despite battling loads of injury adversity, Odunze knows he fell short of meeting expectations. “At the end of the day, we all play with different injuries and different things that we go through, so I gotta step through and proceed to be a catalyst to this team’s success, and I don’t feel like I did that well enough this season,” he told reporters on Monday, via the CHGO Bears X account, after recording two receptions for 44 yards versus the Rams. “It’s going back to the drawing board {and} trying to look at some of the things with my routine or maybe my preparation that I can change, so I can be the player I need to be for this team.” “I gotta step through and proceed to be a catalyst to this team’s success and I don’t feel like I did that well enough this season.” Rome Odunze reflects on ups and downs of 2025 season: pic.twitter.com/lDIQIIseuW — CHGO Bears (@CHGO_Bears) January 19, 2026 Odunze was living up to the lofty standards that were set when the organization selected him with the No. 9 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, scoring five touchdowns in the first four games of the campaign. He could not sustain the high level of production, however, and his health only made matters worse. The 6-foot-3 wideout endured ankle and heel issues before suffering a stress fracture in his foot. He missed the final five games of the regular season but pushed through the pain for the playoffs. Although fans appreciated Odunze’s perseverance, he did not make a consistent impact on the field. The 2023 All-American finished his second NFL season with 44 catches for 661 yards and six touchdowns. Rome Odunze significantly progressed from a statistical standpoint, but he still has to prove he can regularly be a primary option in the Bears’ passing attack. Based on his comments, the young talent is ready to hit the offseason hard. The post Bears’ Rome Odunze gives harsh review of his disappointing 2025 season appeared first on ClutchPoints.

The Pittsburgh Steelers were no match for the Houston Texans when they dropped the Wild Card game in overwhelming fashion. Pittsburgh was unable to deliver any kind of threat on the offensive end, and it’s clear that multiple moves will have to be made in the offseason if the team is going to return to the playoffs next year and perform in a way that will allow the team to have a legitimate chance of advancing once they get to the postseason. The Steelers will no longe be a reflection of head coach Mike Tomlin. He stepped down from his post about 24 hours after the loss and the team will have a new leader. They may or may not have a new quarterback since Aaron Rodgers is 42 years old and he has slowed dramatically. He can still be effective throwing the ball, but he no longer has the ability to buy time in the pocket and he can’t be counted on to escape the pass rush. That means the Steelers will go through a transition this offseason and figure out a new direction. That does not necessarily mean the team will endure a losing season as the organization goes through major changes. If general manager Omar Khan and player personnel vice president Dan Rooney Jr. make the right choices, the Steelers can once again contend in the AFC North and become a playoff team. The Steelers were consistent winners under Tomlin, but they have not won a playoff game since the 2016 season. The Steelers have 6 Super Bowl titles to their credit, and they would like to get back to putting a dominant team on the field. The right free-agent moves could help them. Steelers have to become more of an offensive threat The Steelers may have won the AFC North with a 10-7 record, but the offense struggled most of the season. The team needed a solid contribution from the ground attack, but Jaylen Warren and Kenneth Gainwell did not get enough support from the offensive line to make more than occasional contributions. The Steelers ranked 25th in offense with an average of 305.6 yards per game. The running game averaged just 103.3 yards per game, and opponents knew that big plays were going to be few and far between. The acquisition of an anchor on the offensive line like Ravens center Tyler Linderbaum could go a long way to giving the Steelers a much more productive offensive front. Linderbaum has made the Pro Bowl in each of the last 3 seasons and he provides a powerful presence as well as leadership from one of the most important positions on the offensive line. Linderbaum can not only open holes on the interior for the running game, he can also provide security for the quarterback because the interior pass rush is going to be stopped in its tracks on a majority of the snaps. Improvement at the RB slot is needed While Warren and Gainwell are both honest backs who lay it on the line in every game, the Steelers could use a running back who can hit the home run. Breece Hall of the Jets could be an ideal fit for the team. Hall has the speed to break long runs, and he has demonstrated his ability even though he has been stuck on a Jets team that is often buried in the second half of games. Hall is coming off his best season, as he rushed for 1,065 yards while averaging 4.4 yards per carry. He scored 4 rushing TDs and he also caught 36 passes for 350 yards and 1 touchdown. Hall has the strength to bust through arm tackles at 5-11 and 219 pounds, and he is capable of wearing down defenses in close games. He caught a career-high 76 passes in the 2023 season and he could clearly serve as a dual threat for the Steelers if they can sign him to a free-agent contract. Improvement at the LB spot would help the defense Defense has long been a calling card for the Steelers but they were below average in that area, giving up 356.9 yards per game. That ranked 26th and that’s not good enough. Linebackers Payton Wilson and Patrick Queen led the Steelers in tackles with 126 and 120, respectively. However, fellow LB T.J. Watt is the dominant force on defense as he had 55 tackles,…

Add another honor to the growing Victor Wembanyama legend as he secures a unique spot within the storied history of the San Antonio Spurs franchise. In being selected as a starter in the 2026 All-Star Game, the recently turned 22-year-old becomes only the fifth Spur ever to start in the annual NBA classic. Not on that list are Pro Basketball Hall-of-Famers Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, who are widely regarded as two of the best six players in team history. While the selection marks Wemby’s second consecutive All-Star nod, it’s his first as a starter. With the distinction, he joins San Antonio icons Tim Duncan and David Robinson, both of whom, like Wembanyama, are big men who went first overall in their respective drafts. The 2023 top overall draftee appears on his way to navigating turnarounds as Duncan and Robinson did before him. Robinson’s rookie year marked the greatest single-season turnaround in league history at the time. It was a record that stood until the Spurs broke it again, by a game (36) in Duncan’s first year as a pro, eight seasons later. The Spurs won their first-ever championship in Duncan’s second year. As of this latest Wembanyama accolade, the Spurs sport 29 wins through mid January and sit second in the Western Conference standings. They won 34 games all of last season. Kawhi Leonard, who earned 2014 Finals MVP honors, and Alvin Robertson, an NBA Defensive Player of the Year and four-time All-Star, round out the players in franchise history who’ve been selected as starters. San Antonio has now had at least one All-Star selection in 43 of the 49 NBA All-Star Games since the ABA-NBA merger in 1976, tied with the Los Angeles Lakers for the most of any franchise in that span. A look inside Victor Wembanyama’s 2025-2026 season The Spurs’ leading scorer for a third straight season has helped guide the Spurs to a 29-13 mark by averaging a career-best 24.5 points to go along with 10.9 rebounds, three assists, and 2.6 blocks in just under 29 minutes in 28 games. He is also shooting a career-high 51.6% (238-461) from the field and 38.2% (47-123) from beyond the arc. The 2023-2024 Rookie of the Year is the only player in the NBA averaging 20-plus points, 10-plus rebounds and two-or-more blocks. He leads the NBA in blocks per game and ranks fourth in rebounding. This season, the 2023-2024 Defensive Player of the Year runner-up extended his streak of consecutive games with a block to 101, which represents the third-longest streak in NBA history and set a franchise record. On January 13 at the Oklahoma City Thunder, he blocked the 500th shot of his career, becoming the second-youngest player in NBA history to have 500 blocks and fourth fastest ever to 500 at 143 games, joining Robinson, Manute Bol and Mark Eaton. In a November victory at the Chicago Bulls, Wemby became the first player in NBA history to record 35-plus points, 10-plus rebounds, 5-plus assists, 5-plus three-pointers and 5-plus blocks in a game. The 7-foot-5 phenom will suit up for the World Team on February 15 in a new format with two teams of players born in the United States and one team of international players competing in a round robin tournament. All-Star Starters were determined through a weighted vote by fans (50%), current NBA players (25%), and a media panel (25%). The post How Victor Wembanyama’s All-Star starter nod secures Spurs franchise history appeared first on ClutchPoints.

It has been a magical season for Indiana Football. Indiana is preparing to play Miami in the CFP National Championship on Monday night, but this past Saturday, players and coaches were available to the media to answer questions. One of the questions sent to star receiver Elijah Sarrat was about his time in Bloomington, Indiana, which led to questions about his dog and the dog’s name. “CC. They may not like it. She’s named after Caitlin Clark. Indiana fans may not like it. She’s an American Bully. That’s my daughter right there,” Sarrat said in response to what his dog’s name was, per Brian Schaible of The Sporting News. Sarrat has named his dog after the current Indiana Fever and former Iowa Hawkeye star, Clark. For her part, Clark responded and reposted a TikTok video of Sarrat answering the question. “Hope he scores 3 tds Monday night,” Clark posted, and later added, “Big Indiana fan Monday night.” Clark has been known for being a fan of sports in general. She has been spotted at Chiefs games, spoken out in support of LeBron James, and even spoke on the Bears late game heroics in the playoffs. Sarrat is hoping to head home to his dog CC, a National Champion. Sarrat has been a major part of the last two seasons for Indiana. He transferred from St. Francis (PA) after the 2022 season, joining Curt Cignetti at James Madison. After putting up 1,191 yards and eight scores there, he joined Cignetti at Indiana. In his two seasons with the Hooisers, he has 1,759 yards and found the end zone 23 times, including 15 times this season. The star receiver will be looking to have a repeat of the game against Oregon, where he had seven receptions for 75 yards and two touchdowns. The Hooisers take on the Hurricanes for the National Championship at 7:30 PM ET on Monday night. The post Indiana’s Elijah Sarratt named his dog after Caitlin Clark appeared first on ClutchPoints.