The Key for the week of January 26, 2026
Fill in your sports comparisons…
It’s as cold as (your favorite team’s free throw shooting, the Denver kicker’s right toe, you get the drill). The weekend storm and enduring chill caused some game postponements and time adjustments for all sports, including basketball. For the most part, though, the weekend schedule went as planned, including the Denver-New England Conference Championship which was hit with a snowstorm in the second half. Blowing winds, bad footing and poor visibility created a game with multiple missed field goals and a slogging offense for both sides. Short of having the conference title games at a neutral indoor site, it’s the risk you take. And, as you often hear this time of year, the weather’s the same on both sides of the ball.
Seller’s remorse?
While the Minnesota Vikings sit at home, their quarterback from last year, Sam Darnold, is heading to the Super Bowl. Darnold had a reputation of fading at the end (just as he did last year with the Vikings) but hushed a lot of critics last weekend with his conference title win over the Rams. Meantime, the draft pick brought in to replace Darnold, JJ McCarthy, missed his rookie season altogether with a knee injury, missed much of this past year to various maladies and ended the season #40 in passer rating, 29 spots behind Darnold (per The Athletic).
Never fear, spring training’s (almost) here…
Circle it on your calendar, pitchers and catchers for the Reds report to Goodyear on February 11th, with workouts starting the next day. Who’s in the Reds rotation this year? You can lock in (barring injury) Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo, Brady Singer and Andrew Abbott, with Rhett Lowder, back from injury, contending, according to Mark Sheldon from MLB covering the Reds. Other possibles are Chase Burns, Brandon Williamson, Julian Aguiar and Chase Petty. As just about every GM and club owner will tell you, you can never have enough pitching.
Ben’s Best Bet
Speaking of the Super Bowl matchup, this year’s teams can give just about everyone else in the league hope. Both Seattle and New England had less than a 2% chance from oddsmakers in the preseason to make the title game, standing at least at 60-1 to win their respective conferences. In fact, you have to go back to the 1982 Super Bowl with 50-1 San Francisco facing the 60-1 Bengals to find similar underdogs. Right now BetMGM has the Seahawks at 4.5 point favorites over the Patriots. Ben says watch that line waver a bit from now until kickoff, but if you want to win, take Seattle. If you want to try to win big, take the Patriots.