Wild Card Weekend closed with an absolute SMACKDOWN of the Minnesota Vikings, courtesy of the LA Rams! This brings up many questions about the future of Sam Darnold. The Divisional Round is set, and we’ll be gearing up for that all week! To talk about today, we’ve got a McCarthy Firing, LiAangelo Ball’s music career, and a CLASSIC Glue Guy!

The Rundown:

🏈 Vikings disappoint, Rams roll in Arizona

🏈 Mike McCarthy is looking for a job again

🎤 LiAngelo Ball cashes in on his newest song

☀️ Sending sunshine your way with today’s SOTD

Today’s Trivia🧠

On This Day…

🦁 On this day in 2024, Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell leads the franchise to their first playoff game win since 1991 in their defeat of the Los Angeles Rams.

The Lions are now the number-one seed in the NFC and have the best record in the NFL going into the playoffs. Can the Lions finally win their first Super Bowl in franchise history this season?

Today’s Stump Story…

🏈 14 Wins vs A Playoff Loss…What Weighs More?

Yesterday’s statement win for the LA Rams not only showed how strong of a team they have, but brought doubts as to the situation in Minnesota…

It was all Rams last night in the Wild Card finale in Glendale, Arizona. The Cardinals graciously offered their stadium after facilities in LA were unusable. The story of how quickly they turned around and hosted a playoff game in that stadium on 5 days’ notice could be its own story entirely, but we’ll save that one.

The Rams smothered the Vikings, 27-9, and it wasn’t even that close! Sam Darnold got sacked 8 times, picked once, and lost a fumble that was returned for a TD. The Vikings won 14 games this regular season and came up empty yet again in the playoffs. Two years ago it was against the Danny Dimes-led New York Giants, and now against the Rams. What does this now mean for Sam Darnold?

You know, I’d love to come here and say, “Hey, let’s look back at the great season that Sam Darnold just had” but for some reason, I just can’t bring myself to say that. In these last two games, the Vikings looked BAD, really bad! It wasn’t all on him at all, the O-Line couldn’t seem to block anybody, receivers needed to make a few more tough catches, and the defense couldn’t force any turnovers. It’s tough when all of that happens. But for the same reason QBs are the only nominees ever up for MVP; they are also looked on when things fall apart.

Sports are filled with heroic stories of underdogs and feel-good stories of guys who get that massive contract, but unfortunately, the way this season ended, it’s hard to believe Darnold will get that massive extension that was in the palm of his hands just 14 days ago. Had they beaten the Lions and even won one playoff game, he surely would have gotten the massive extension that solidified him as the starter in Minnesota, but now there are these doubts. They are going to creep into his head, Kevin O’Connell’s head, and the fanbase’s head.

Rookie JJ McCarthy will be back next season and who knows what juice he’s got, but it could be anyone’s job.

The highs and lows. The ebbs and flows.

Three weeks ago, Sam Darnold was lifted onto his teammate’s shoulders after a win.

Since then…

He may have just lost out on close to $60 Million.

Quick Hitters

🏈 The Dallas Cowboys and their head coach Mike McCarthy have parted ways after contract negotiations stalled. This was arguably the biggest domino to fall in the coaching carousel, as the Cowboys is a coveted job and McCarthy will surely land in a new franchise soon. The Bears have already expressed interest in hiring the former Cowboys coach, but it’s likely he’ll get more interview opportunities. The Cowboys have already reportedly spoken to their hall-of-famer and current Colorado head coach Deion Sanders about their job opening, he is expected to be a candidate and there seems to be mutual interest.

⚾️ Star Japanese right-handed pitcher Roki Sasaki has officially announced his final three contenders: the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres, or the Toronto Blue Jays. The 23-year-old phenom has a 100mph plus fastball and a devastating split-finger that helped him become one of the best pitchers in all of Japan. The Dodgers and Padres have been the favorites to sign Sasaki since the beginning, but the Blue Jays have reportedly made a strong push late as they were not a part of the initial teams interested in the young star. He’s expected to sign in the next 10 days or so.

🤯 Former NBA and College basketball player, LiAngelo Ball, has signed a deal worth $13M with Def Jam and Universal Music Group. Ball is the brother of NBA players LaMelo and Lonzo, and played in the G League for the Charlotte Hornets after going unselected in the 2018 draft. Ball’s song, “Tweaker”, has reached No. 4 on the top 10 streaming chart in the United States.

Other News:

• 🚫 Texas man arrested for stalking Caitlin Clark

• 🐂 All-American TE and resident OX Tyler Warren declares for NFL Draft

• 🫢 Anthony Edwards fines another $50k, total up to $285k

Top Performers:

• 🏈 LA Rams Defense: 8 sacks, 1 INT, 1 FF, 1 TD

• 🎾 Taylor Fritz (USA): Straight sets victory in Round 1 of Australian Open

• 🏀 Jalen Green (HOU): 42 points, 13/18 shooting, 5/6 3P

• 🏀 Anthony Edwards (MIN): 41 points, 7 assists, 6 rebounds

Stump Favorites

👟 Kyren Williams could NOT get his shoe on

🏀 The MALIK BEASLEY (???) show in the Garden

🫠 Hugging hockey content for your feed

💯 Full Scoreboards: MLB, Soccer, PGA, NFL, WNBA, NCAAF, NHL

Today’s Slate

*All times are ET*

🏀 NBA: Cavs @ Pacers (7:00 PM on TNT), Nuggets @ Mavericks (9:30 PM on TNT), full schedule

🏀 NCAAW: (24) Minnesota @ (8) Maryland (7:00 PM on BTN), full schedule

🏀 NCAAM: (15) Mississippi St @ (1) Auburn (7:00 PM on SECN), (21) Ole Miss vs (4) Alabama (7:00 PM on ESPNU), (11) Texas A&M vs (8) Kentucky (7:00 PM on ESPN2), Miami @ (3) Duke (9:00 PM on ESPN), (25) Baylor @ Arizona (11:00 PM on ESPN), full schedule

🏒 NHL: Panthers @ Devils (7:30 PM on Hulu), full schedule

⚽️ Soccer: EPL: Brentford @ Man City (2:30 PM), Chelsea @ Bournemouth (2:30 PM), West Ham vs Fulham (2:30 PM), Nottingham vs Liverpool (3:00 PM) ; Serie A: Atalanta vs Juventus (2:45 PM) ; French Supercup: Marseille vs Lille (3:10 PM), full schedule

C. Houston Texans. The Texans, Browns, Lions, and Jags have never won. In our prompt, the Chargers, Cardinals, and Titans have all won ONE Super Bowl.

Can’t thank you enough for sticking to the end of this thing we call The Daily Stump. If you know anybody who might want this bit of daily sports news in their life, send them this link, it would go a long way. Appreciate the hell out of you all…

Trees get chopped. Stumps hold strong 💪