Monday Sports – Former Panthers assets help Bears beat Carolina

NFL – National Football League – Week 5
Yesterday
Chicago Bears 36, Carolina Panthers 10
Jacksonville Jaguars 37, Indianapolis Colts 34
Detroit Lions (bye week)

Bears 36, Panthers 10 –Williams and Moore lead the way in Bears’ 36-10 win
Caleb Williams threw for 304 yards and two touchdowns in his best performance to date, DJ Moore added 105 yards receiving and two scores against his former team and the Chicago Bears beat the Carolina Panthers 36-10. The Bears won their second straight after dropping two in a row, with the two key pieces they acquired as a result of a blockbuster trade with Carolina in 2023 leading the way. Chicago also got a big performance from D’Andre Swift. He had 120 yards from scrimmage and a TD. Williams picked apart a banged-up defense that ranks among the NFL’s worst. The No. 1 overall draft pick completed 20 of 29 passes with no interceptions and a 126.2 rating that was his best.

Jaguars 37, Colts 34 – Lawrence leads the Jags to their 1st win, 37-34 over the Colts
Trevor Lawrence threw for 371 yards and two touchdowns on his 25th birthday and put Jacksonville in position for a 49-yard field goal with 17 seconds left that gave the Jaguars their first win of the season, 37-34 over the short-handed Indianapolis Colts. Tank Bigsby ran for 101 yards and two scores for Jacksonville (1-4), which won for the first time since December and extended its home streak against division rival Indianapolis (2-3) to double digits. The Jaguars did so while wearing throwback uniforms on a day the franchise inducted retired coach Tom Coughlin into its ring of honor.

Other NFL Scores
Atlanta 36, Tampa Bay 30, OT
Minnesota 23, N.Y. Jets 17
Baltimore 41, Cincinnati 38, OT
Houston 23, Buffalo 20
Miami 15, New England 10
Washington 34, Cleveland 13
Arizona 24, San Francisco 23
Denver 34, Las Vegas 18
Green Bay 24, L.A. Rams 19
N.Y. Giants 29, Seattle 20
Dallas 20, Pittsburgh 17

Tonight
New Orleans Saints at Kansas City Chiefs, 8:15 p.m.

MLB – Major League Baseball Playoffs – Divisional Round – Best of 5
Yesterday
Philadelphia Phillies 7, New York Mets 6                        (Series tied 1-1)
San Deigo Padres 10, Los Angeles Dodgers 2                  (Series tied 1-1)

Today
MLB Divisional Series – Best of 5
Detroit Tigers at Cleveland Guardians, 4:08 p.m.            (CLE leads 1-0)   News/Talk/Sports 94.9 WSJM 3:40
Kansas City Royals at New York Yankees, 7:38 p.m.          (NYY leads 1-0)

MLB – Once Tigers teammates, now close friends, Skubal and Boyd to square off in Game 2
Tarik Skubal and Matthew Boyd became close when they played together in Detroit. They’ll put their friendship to the side for a few hours Monday in the AL Division Series. Skubal, the odds-on favorite to win the Cy Young Award this season, will start for the Tigers, who were shut out in Game 1 by the Guardians. Skubal credits Boyd for being a mentor during his first few seasons in the major leagues. Now he’ll pitch against Boyd, who battled his way back from Tommy John surgery and signed with Cleveland in June. The Guardians won the opener 7-0 after scoring five runs in the first inning before making an out.

NBA – National Basketball Association Preseason
Yesterday
Detroit Pistons 120, Milwaukee Bucks 87

WNBA – Women’s National Basketball Association Playoffs – Round 2 (best of five)
Last Night
New York Liberty 76, Las Vegas Aces 62                        (NYL wins 3-1)
Connecticut Sun 92, Minnesota Lynx 82                        (Series tied 2-2)

WNBA – Ionescu scores 22 points to lead Liberty to 76-62 win and into WNBA Finals
Sabrina Ionescu rebounded from a rare off game to score 22 points. Nearly a year after the Aces ended the Liberty’s dream of a championship, New York returned the favor Sunday afternoon by defeating Las Vegas 76-62 to advance to the WNBA Finals. The top-seeded Liberty will have home-court advantage in the championship series and will face either the Connecticut Sun or Minnesota Lynx. This is the Liberty’s sixth trip to the finals. But the franchise is still seeking its first title.

NCAAFB –Texas returns to No. 1, Alabama drops to No. 7
It was a week of upheaval in The Associated Press college football poll. Texas returned to No. 1 after a one-week absence following Vanderbilt’s monumental upset of Alabama. The Commodores’ win over Alabama on Saturday caused the Crimson Tide to drop from No. 1 to No. 7. The last top-ranked team to fall so far was Ohio State, which plunged to No. 11 in 2010 following an October loss to Wisconsin. Texas, which had an open date, received 52 first-place votes and became the first team in two years to bounce in and out of the top spot in a span of three polls. The Longhorns also were just the third team since 2008 to be voted No. 1 after not playing the day before.

NCAAFB – Chaos hits AP Top 25 with 4 teams ranked in the top 11 losing to unranked opponents
Vanderbilt’s stunning upset of No. 1 Alabama that led to crazed fans marching the goal posts through the streets of Nashville was just the appetizer. Saturday proved to be one of the wildest days in the AP poll in years. Four teams ranked in the top 11 in the latest poll were upset by unranked teams Saturday, the first time that happened on a single day since Nov. 12, 2016, when five teams did it. What looked on paper to be a calm day with only one matchup between ranked teams turned out to be anything but with Alabama, No. 4 Tennessee, No. 10 Michigan and No. 11 Southern California all losing to unranked teams.

NCAAFB – Texas swaggers into SEC and midseason break undefeated
Texas has found its swagger again. The Longhorns are undefeated before their rivalry game with Oklahoma. Their SEC debut was a smashing success. They held the No. 1 spot in the AP rankings for two weeks, then returned again on Sunday. That’s a long way from the 2021 debut season of coach Steve Sarkisian when the Longhorns went 5-7. And it’s not just football. Texas has rolled into the SEC as the top athletic department in the country and athletes are cashing in on name, image and likeness deals. Sarkisian heads onto the recruiting trail for a few days with a lot to sell.

NASCAR – Stenhouse snaps 65-race losing streak; late crash scrambles playoff picture
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. snapped a 65-race losing streak by winning in overtime at Talladega Superspeedway after a late crash collected more than half the field, including eight of the 12 championship contenders. Stenhouse is not in the playoffs and his victory Sunday marked the second consecutive week a driver not competing for the Cup Series title has won. The victory was the first for Stenhouse and his JTG Daugherty Racing team since he won the season-opening Daytona 500 to start 2023. Four drivers will be eliminated from the playoffs next Sunday on the hybrid road course/oval at Charlotte. Joey Logano, Daniel Suarez, Austin Cindric and Chase Briscoe are all below the cutline.

MHSAA – Michigan High School Athletic Association
Tonight
Boys Soccer
St. Joseph at Vicksburg, 6:30 p.m.
Cassopolis at Our Lady of the Lake, 5:00 p.m.
Berrien Springs at Bridgman, 5:00 p.m.
Edwardsburg at Dowagiac, 5:00 p.m.
Hartford at Otsego, 7:00 p.m.
Niles at Three Rivers, 6:30 p.m.
Kalamazoo Loy Norrix at Paw Paw, 6:30 p.m.
Kalamazoo Central at East Kentwood, 6:30 p.m.
Harper Creek at Battle Creek Central, 6:30 p.m.
Marshall at Sturgis, 6:30 p.m.
Holland Black River at Kalamazoo Christian, 4:30 p.m.
Coloma at Lawton, 6:30 p.m.
Delton-Kellogg at South Haven, 6:30 p.m.
Allegan at Watervliet, 7:00 p.m.
Comstock at Bronson, 5:30 p.m.
Bloomingdale at Wyoming-Lee, 6:00 p.m.

Girls Volleyball
Lakeshore at Edwardsburg, 6:00 p.m.
Buchanan at Michigan Lutheran, 5:00 p.m.
Coloma at Bridgman, 6:30 p.m.
Brandywine at New Buffalo, 6:00 p.m.
Mattawan at Otsego, 6:30 p.m.
Battle Creek Central at Sturgis, 6:00 p.m.
Kalamazoo Central at Marshall, 5:00 p.m.
Centreville at Marcellus, 7:00 p.m.
Cassopolis at White Pigeon, 7:00 p.m.

Boys Tennis
St. Joseph at GR Forest Hills Eastern, 2:00 p.m.
St. Joseph at East Grand Rapids, 4:00 p.m.

Cross Country
BCS at Howardsville Christian, 4:30 p.m.