NFL
The Jacksonville Jaguars fired Gus Bradley, ending the least successful coaching tenure in NFL history.
Owner Shad Khan announced the decision following a 21-20 loss at Houston on Sunday, a game in which the Jaguars (2-12) blew a nine-point lead in the fourth quarter. Khan considered the move in late October, following a debacle at Tennessee on national television, but opted to keep Bradley for seven more weeks.
Bradley, a coordinator at Fort Lewis College in Durango from 1992-95, went 14-48 in four seasons in Jacksonville, the worst winning percentage (.225) of any NFL coach with at least 60 games of experience.
The Jaguars were supposed to be considerably improved this season, but now have lost nine in a row. It’s the longest, single-season losing streak in franchise history.
NHL
WINNIPEG, Manitoba – Nikolaj Ehlers scored twice to lead the Winnipeg Jets to a 4-1 victory over the Colorado Avalanche.
Patrik Laine had a goal and two assists and Blake Wheeler also scored for the Jets. Mark Scheifele had two assists and Connor Hellebuyck stopped 27 shots.
Jarome Iginla had a power-play goal for Colorado, and Calvin Pickard had 26 saves while making his first career NHL start in his hometown.
After Iginla pulled the Avalanche within two with 2:01 remaining, Ehlers had an empty-netter in 30 seconds to go.
Skiing
LA VILLA, Italy – Marcel Hirscher matched Alberto Tomba with a record fourth giant slalom win in Alta Badia.
The overall World Cup leader from Austria increased his first-leg lead and finished 0.71 seconds ahead of Mathieu Faivre of France and 1.10 in front of Florian Eisath of Italy.
Alexis Pinturault, the Frenchman who won the GS on home snow in Val d’Isere last weekend, fell early in his second run, spun around and crashed into the safety netting at high speed. Pinturault, who was seventh after the opening run, appeared to avoid serious injury.
Olympic champion Ted Ligety slid off course shortly into his first run. The American has been unable to train properly lately due to severe back pain.
Italian great Tomba captured his wins on the Gran Risa course in 1987, ’90, ’91 and ’94.
Hirscher has won the race four years in a row. He also took a slalom in Badia in 2011.
VAL D’ISERE, France – Lara Gut bounced back in style from two miserable performances to win a World Cup super-G race on Sunday for her third victory of the season and 21st career win.
The defending World Cup overall champion had failed to finish Friday’s Alpine combined race and Saturday’s downhill, dropping valuable points in her quest to close the gap on current World Cup leader Mikaela Shiffrin of the United States.
But Gut made no mistake this time, powering down the Oreillier-Killy course to beat Liechtenstein skier Tina Weirather by .13 seconds and Italian Elena Curtoni by more than one second. It was only Curtoni’s second career podium.
Soccer
YOKOHAMA, Japan – Cristiano Ronaldo scored a hat trick on Sunday as European champions Real Madrid beat Japanese side Kashima Antlers 4-2 to win the Club World Cup and extend their unbeaten run to 37 games.
Ronaldo took a pass from Karim Benzema in the 98th minute and calmly fired under Kashima goalkeeper Hitoshi Sogahata to make it 3-2.
Associated Press
