Parkey misses “second try” as Eagles edge Bears 16-15 in Playoff game.


The Philadelphia Eagles kept messing up. They’re simply a team that doesn’t give up.Nick Foles hit Golden Tate with a 2-yard touchdown pass on fourth down with 56 seconds remaining against the NFL’s stingiest defense, lifting the Philadelphia Eagles past the the Bears 16-15 on Sunday in the final wild-card game.Former Eagles kicker Cody Parkey hit the left upright and then the crossbar with a field-goal attempt from 43 yards with 10 seconds remaining, silencing the raucous crowd.

”I think the big thing is, we saw some adversity tonight in the first half (and) I had a couple of turnovers,” Foles said. ”I think the big thing is that no one loses faith, no one stops believing, everyone just keeps talking, keeps believing in one another, and we just rallied. Our defense really kept us in this game.”
The defending league champion Eagles (10-7) squeezed into the playoffs by beating Washington and having the Bears (12-5) help them by knocking off Minnesota in the season finale. Philadelphia thanked its benefactor with a 12-play, 60-yard drive on which Foles, the Super Bowl MVP last February, hit six passes.Tate made a reaching grab in the right side of the end zone near the goal line.
”We found a way,” Tate said.
Philly plays at New Orleans (13-3) next Sunday. The Bears sensational turnaround season from last place to the NFC North title is over.No team has repeated as Super Bowl champion since New England in 2004, and the Eagles are a sixth seed. The last sixth seed to win the NFL title was Green Bay in the 2010 season; the Packers won the NFC championship at Soldier Field that season.These Eagles, led by Foles once again replacing an injured Carson Wentz, and a defense down to backups at several positions, seem to have that magical touch like last season.It was a sizzling ending to a game marked by superior defense and several critical mistakes by the Eagles. They had to survive after Tarik Cohen, an All-Pro punt returner, took back the kickoff following Philly’s go-ahead score 35 yards. Mitchell Trubisky completed two passes to get the Bears close enough for Parkey. But his kick took a double deflection and fell harmlessly into the end zone.He was 11 of 12 in the fourth-quarter on field goals before missing the biggest kick of his career.

”Obviously, we’re just hoping for a miss,” Foles said. ”This was a hard-fought game. That’s an amazing team we just played against and it came down to the wire.”

The Bears are 1-15 all-time in playoffs when trailing after three quarters. They fell behind when Foles connected with rookie Dallas Goedert for a 10-yard touchdown in the third period that was set up by a 33-yard pass interference call on cornerback Prince Amukamara.Although the Eagles outplayed the Bears in the first half, errors left them behind 6-3. A 15-yard personal penalty on Michael Bennett aided a Bear drive to a 36-yard field goal by Parkey, and a dropped potential interception in the end zone by Tre Sullivan allowed Parkey to make a 29-yarder as the half concluded.Philadelphia also had an interception by Avonte Maddox deep in Bear territory overturned by video replay.Philly did score on its opening series of the game, a 50-yard drive to Jake Elliott’s 43-yard field goal. And again on its first possession in the third quarter as Goedert got wide open on a short post pattern behind Adrian Amos, who had an end-zone interception of Foles’ ill-advised throw in the second quarter.Parkey also made 34-yarder early in the manic final quarter.

”We had a lot of fun and I love our guys to death,” Bears coach Matt Nagy said.
Both head coaches, Nagy and Doug Pederson in Philadelphia, are Andy Reid proteges. That usually means lots of passing, and each team didn’t do much on the ground, combining for 107 yards rushing.But Trubisky threw for 303 yards, going 26 of 43. Foles was 25 of 40 for 266 yards.Teams rarely win when they are minus in turnover differential. The Eagles did, having two giveaways and no takeaways. The Bears led the NFL this season with 36 takeaways.The bear mascot had the perfect reaction to Parkey’s miss, falling flat on his back as he was kneeling behind the goalpost where Parkey’s kick failed.

Wilcats edge Illini 68-66 on Turner three pointer with 10.1 seconds left.

Illinois Fighting Illini (2004 - 2013)
Northwestern Wildcats (1981 - Pres)

EVANSTON—A.J. Turner hit a 3-pointer with 10.1 seconds left to give Northwestern a 68-66 victory over rival Illinois on Sunday, the Wildcats’ first Big Ten win of the season.Vic Law had 13 points and 10 rebounds, Turner and Ryan Taylor had 12 points apiece and Anthony Gaines added 11 for Northwestern (10-5, 1-3).Ayo Dosunmu had 18 points and Adonis De La Rosa added 12 for Illinois (4-11, 0-4), which has lost four straight.Northwestern won last season’s meeting 72-68 in overtime. Illinois leads the all-time series 134-42.Giorgi Bezhanishvili gave Illinois a 66-65 lead on a follow basket with 1:31 to play. After each team had a scoreless possession, Northwestern got the ball back with 34.5 seconds to go. Turner missed a wild 3-point attempt with just under 20 seconds left, but Dererk Pardon grabbed the rebound and threw it back out to Turner for the game-winning basket.Trent Frazier missed a 3-point attempt at the buzzer for the Illini.Following a slow start offensively, Northwestern received a lift when freshman Ryan Greer entered the game at point guard seven minutes into the game. The Wildcats rallied for a 24-16 lead with five minutes left before halftime and seemingly had taken control.But Illinois, after going scoreless for more than four minutes, closed the first half with a 15-1 run to take a 31-25 lead at the intermission.Law had just two points on 1-for-6 shooting in the first half. He finished 4 for 12 from the field with six turnovers.Illinois stretched its lead to eight points early in the second half before Northwestern rallied to tie the score at 42 on a 3-point play by Anthony Gaines with 13 minutes to go. Two minutes later, Law hit a pair of free throws to put the Wildcats back on top, 45-43.The game stayed tight the rest of the way.The Illini are solid defensively, but must develop more consistency on offense to win in the Big Ten.To be competitive in the Big Ten and have a shot at an NCAA tournament bid, the Wildcats need more consistent play out of Law. Also, the lack of a true point guard in the starting lineup is more apparent against quality opponents.NU hosts No. 25 Iowa on Wednesday night.Illinois is home to No. 2 Michigan on Thursday night

Blue Demons hold off Seton Hall 75-74

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Max Strus sank five 3-pointers and scored 21 points and DePaul hung on to beat Seton Hall 75-74 on Sunday, ending a six-game losing streak in the series.Strus now has 125 career 3-pointers, moving into 11th on DePaul’s all-time list. Jaylen Butz and Paul Reed both finished with 12 points and nine rebounds for the Blue Demons (9-5, 1-2 Big East Conference). Devin Gage pitched in with 11 points and six assists to help DePaul coach Dave Leitao pick up his second win in 10 tries against the Pirates (11-4, 2-1).Reed tallied all 12 of his points in the first half and Strus scored 10 to guide DePaul to a 38-33 halftime lead. Strus hit a 3-pointer and 1 of 2 free throws to give the Blue Demons a 58-44 lead with 12:26 left to play. Femi Olujobi’s layup with 2:43 remaining gave the Blue Demons a 75-69 lead. DePaul failed to score from there and Jared Rhoden’s dunk and Myles Powell’s 3-pointer pulled the Pirates within a point with 1:02 left. Seton Hall forced a turnover, but Powell missed a 3-pointer with 38 seconds remaining. Powell had a steal with 10 seconds to go, but Shavar Reynolds missed from deep with two ticks left.Powell scored 16 to top the Pirates. He hit all six of his free throws and is shooting 97 percent (30 of 31) this season.

Hawks special teams fail as Boston wins Winter Classic 4-2 at ND Stadium

Image result for 2019 winter classic

SOUTH BEND—David Pastrnak delivered once again. Patrice Bergeron showed off his all-around game, and Tuukka Rask made a couple of big stops.Pastrnak had a goal and an assist, Rask made 36 saves and the Boston Bruins beat the Blackhawks 4-2 on Tuesday in the Winter Classic at Notre Dame.

”You want to win those games when you’re on the big stage like that,” Bergeron said. ”I know it’s a regular-season game, but still you know the meaning’s different when you’re playing in front of 76,000 people and on national TV. So we know what’s at stake with those games and we want to make the most of it.”

Bergeron, Sean Kuraly and Brad Marchand also scored as Boston won for the second time in three appearances in the NHL’s annual outdoor game on New Year’s Day. The Bruins went 2 for 5 with the man advantage and killed off each of the Blackhawks’ four power plays.The game was tied at 2 when Boston (22-14-4) caught a break in the third period – a little luck at the home of the Fighting Irish. Matt Grzelcyk’s big slap shot went off teammate Chris Wagner in front, but Kuraly beat Blackhawks defenseman Gustav Forsling to the rebound and backhanded the puck past Cam Ward at 10:20.

”Big goal,” coach Bruce Cassidy said.

Backed by most of the sellout crowd of 76,126 in perfect conditions for outdoor hockey – the game-time temperature was 35.5 degrees, and a gray, overcast sky took the sun out of the equation – the Hawks pushed hard for the tying score in the closing minutes, but came up empty.Jonathan Toews sent a shot off the post after the Blackhawks pulled Ward for an extra attacker with about 1:30 left. Marchand then added an empty-netter for his 13th of the season.

”We had a little lull there in the third and ended up going down,” Blackhawks coach Jeremy Colliton said. ”It’s hard when we were chasing them from then on. Disappointing that we did enough and probably deserved more.”

The Hawks (15-21-6) had won five of six, but it remained winless in an NHL-high fourth appearance in the Winter Classic, 1-5 overall in Outfoor games. – also tops in the league.Brendan Perlini and Dominik Kahun scored for the Blackhawks, and Ward made 32 stops in his first outdoor NHL game.

”Just an unbelievable experience,” Ward said. ”I’m really thankful I got the opportunity to do it and you’re just disappointed that you don’t come away with the win.”

The Blackhawks jumped in front when it scored first for the sixth straight game. David Kampf dug the puck out from behind the net and found a wide-open Perlini in the slot 8:30 into the first.Pastrnak responded with his team-best 24th goal. With Artem Anisimov in the penalty box for tripping, Pastrnak got free in front and slid the puck past Ward at 12:38. He then celebrated by flapping his arms like a bird.The teams exchanged goals again in the second. Kahun scored his fifth of the season when he redirected Erik Gustafsson’s shot by Rask, but Bergeron broke up a potential short-handed breakaway for Kampf before tying it at 2 when he scored another power-play goal with 1:12 left in the period.

NOTES—It was Perlini’s third goal in his past eight games. He had two goals in 22 games with Arizona before he was traded to the Hawks on Nov. 25. …Patrick Kane lost his seven-game point streak.