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Monday, January 17, 2022 SECTION B Paul Farmer . Sports Editor . 427.6926

NFL continues to fail on Black leadership

LZ grAnderson LOS ANGELES TIMES

LOS ANGELES — There are three things in life in this country you can always depend on: death, taxes and sports journalists admonishing the NFL for its lack of Black head coaches.

With the Houston Texans firing David Culley after just one season, the league is now down to a single Black head coach, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Mike Tomlin. And while Tomlin, who has never had a losing season in 15 seasons and was the youngest head coach to win a Super Bowl, is probably sick of being asked to comment on something he has absolutely no control over, he typically doesn’t hold back on the situation when asked.

During a segment on HBO’s “Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel” in February 2021, he told Gumbel, “We just can’t continue to do the same things that we’ve done and think that the outcome is going to change.”

And that was when there were three Black coaches in the league.

But there’s an aspect to this conversation that is often overlooked when it comes to this annual critique of the NFL’s hiring practices: There are not a lot of areas of American life that have been much different.

In August, ESPN reported that after Dennis Green became the first Black head coach of a Power 5 conference football program in 1981, only 39 Black coaches had been hired by a Power 5 school since. In fact more than half of those schools have never had a Black head football coach period, including the two programs that played in Monday’s national championship game, Georgia and Alabama. Georgia did hire a Black athletic director once in 2004. That’s it. And that’s still one up on Alabama, which reportedly was one of 24 Power 5 schools to have never hired a Black head coach or athletic director.

But it’s not just football.

In the same month the conversation between Gumbel and Tomlin aired, Fortune noted since it began publishing its Fortune 500 list in 1955, just 19 of the 1,800 CEOs featured were Black. In 93 years, just six Black men have received Oscar nominations for best director and none has won. When Kevin Merida was hired in June, he became just the second African American to lead the Los Angeles Times in its 140-year history. Hell, since the U.S. Senate first convened in 1789, there have been only 11 Black senators.

So I guess we could spend this time repeating the same tired discussions about the NFL’s shortcomings and the racism tied to

ANALYSIS

See NFL, Page B8

Tom Pennington/Getty Images/TNS

Dak Prescott (4) of the Cowboys scrambles with the ball on the last play of the game against the 49ers during the fourth quarter in the NFC Wild Card Playoff game at AT&T Stadium, in Arlington, Texas, Sunday.

49ers knock off Cowboys in harrowing, wild, playoff finish

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THE MECURY NEWS

ARLINGTON, Texas — Advancing with a playoff win over the Dallas Cowboys never gets old nor boring for the 49ers.

Sunday’s 23-17, wildcard victory came with a hold-your-breath, heartstopping fourth quarter.

Next up is a trip to Lambeau Field to face the No. 1-seeded Green Bay Packers, who had the NFC’s lone bye this wildcard weekend.

The 49ers, who made it into the playoffs by virtue of an overtime win at the Los Angeles Rams a week ago, survived Sunday despite nearly blowing a 16-point, fourth-quarter lead.

It wasn’t over until, well, until referee Alex Kemp announced: “That’s the end of the game,” when Dak Prescott ate up the final 14 seconds by scrambling to the 24-yard line and then taking one last chance to spike the ball with no time left.

And, so, the 49ers (11-7) emerged with their third playoff win all-time against the Cowboys. Their 1981 and ’94 teams won the NFC Championship against Dallas en route to Super Bowl championships.

Missing from the 49ers defense’s final, straining drives were its premier defenders: Nick Bosa, who left with a concussion just before halftime, and Fred Warner, who staggered off with a fourth-quarter ankle injury.

Warner’s injury came shortly after a Cowboys’ interception, on a Jimmy Garoppolo overthrow, spoiling what had been a necessary, turnoverfree outing.

Other contributing factors to the Cowboys’ comeback bid: specialteams mistakes, a major flaw this season for the 49ers. They surfaced twice in the second half (roughing the punter; fake-punt conversion), though that led directly to only a Cowboys’ field goal that pulled them within 23-10 with 11:53 left.

Would this lead evaporate the way their halftime leads did in road losses to the Seattle Seahawks and Tennessee Titans, not to mention their infamous homeopening defeat in which they surrendered a lead

ANALYSIS

See 49ers, Page B8

Bucs’ patchwork run game delivers

Tribune ConTenT AgenCy

TAMPA — As postseason nicknames go, neither Wild Card Ke’Shawn nor January Giovani possess the same ring as Playoff Lenny, but both worked splendidly for one damp, dominant afternoon.

With every-down back Leonard Fournette still on injured reserve and Ronald Jones out with an injured ankle, second-year backup Ke’Shawn Vaughn and veteran Giovani Bernard combined for 145 total yards in the Bucs’ 31-15 romp of the Eagles.

In the process, they helped prove their team’s coveted cache of skill guys is complemented by a set of reliable spare parts.

“Everybody that wasn’t in those roles early in the season, they’re making the most of it now,” receiver Mike Evans said. “So it’s good for us.”

Operating behind a bangedup offensive line missing all-pro right tackle Tristan Wirfs most of the day, Vaughn ran for 53 yards on 17 carries, including a 1-yard scoring run that gave the Bucs a 14-0 first-quarter lead.

Bernard, activated from injured reserve on Saturday, had the game’s first TD on a 2-yard run. Out since sustaining hip and knee injuries in the Dec. 12 home win against the Bills, he finished with 44 yards on 13 carries, and caught five passes (on seven targets) for 39 yards.

“Band-Aids and duct tape, (Bernard) played his ass off,” coach Bruce Arians said. “Ke’Shawn can run, man, and he can catch. He’s a damn good back and he’s making the best of his opportunities, and we’re very, very confident in him.”

Not that other viable alternatives existed.

Jones, also sidelined for the regular-season finale against the Panthers, was declared out by Arians on Friday. Fournette, on injured reserve with a tweaked hamstring since the Dec. 19 shutout loss to the Saints, was cleared to resume practicing and appeared poised to return, but wasn’t activated.

“He tried to hit top speed a couple of times (at practice) and

Ivy Ceballo/Tampa Tribune/TNS Eagles free safety Anthony Harris (28) attempts to tackle Buccaneers running back Giovani Bernard (25) in the fourth quarter, Sunday.

Wolves fire from long range, roll by Warriors

Tribune ConTenT AgenCy

MINNEAPOLIS — A flurry of three-pointers determined Golden State's first visit to Target Center this season, but it wasn't record-setting shooter Stephen Curry or the Warriors that did so.

Instead, it was Timberwolves guard Malik Beasley's second-half shooting that pushed his team to a 119-99 victory while Curry and Draymond Green were back home in San Francisco injured.

Beasley's five threepointers came three days after he went 1-for-7 from distance in a loss at Memphis – and more than a week after he went 1-for-14 combined in consecutive games against Oklahoma City.

His three made in the third quarter included two back-to-back that fueled a 12-1 run that ended the quarter.

The Warriors ended a four-game trip 2-2 and the Wolves won after losing at New Orleans and Memphis.

From trailing 80-79 with fewer than five minutes left in the third, the Wolves took a 91-81 lead into the fourth quarter. That's when they stretched their lead to as many as 27 points.

Beasley finished with 16 points. Karl-Anthony Towns had 26 points and 11 rebounds and Jaylen Nowell added 17 after he missed Thursday's loss at Memphis injured.

Jordan Poole led the depleted Warriors with 20 points and Jonathan Kuminga scored 19. Kevon Looney pulled down 12 rebounds.

The Warriors played on without Curry and Green Sunday in just another NBA game this season where coaches have shuffled lineups around because of injuries or COVID-19 considerations.

Curry fell on his right shooting hand in Friday's lopsided victory at Chicago and returned

See Warriors, Page B8

Bengals-Raiders’ refs yanked from rest of playoffs

Tribune ConTenT AgenCy

Jerome Boger and the rest of the officials that worked Saturday night’s Bengals-Raiders game are probably out for the rest of the playoffs, according to an ESPN report Sunday morning.

It’s little consolation to Raiders fans after Saturday night’s debacle. And although leaking to Adam Schefter that Boger’s crew is out for the rest of the postseason is a tacit admission that they screwed up, the NFL would not admit wrongdoing on the most egregious blown call of the night.

With two minutes left in the first half, Joe Burrow scrambled to the sideline and found a surprisingly open Tyler Boyd in the back of the end zone

The reason Boyd was surprisingly open: officials had clearly blown the play dead while the ball was in the air. Replays make that clear, as you can hear the whistle blow and see the Raiders secondary stop covering before the ball is caught.

A whistle during the play means that the ball is dead and the down should be replayed. But NFL officiating honcho Walt Anderson — giving the postgame interview instead of Boger — gave the implausible explanation that the refs thought the whistle was blown after the catch, something that is clearly false.

“They did not feel that the whistle was blown before the receiver caught the ball,” Anderson told a pool reporter.

Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby, who was the one chasing Burrow to the sideline, said he heard the whistle. “I heard it, and I thought he was out,” Crosby said.