Category: Fearless
Angel Reese TRADED — but Chicago Sky isn’t being honest about why, Jason Whitlock says
On April 6, the WNBA’s Chicago Sky announced that it traded power forward Angel Reese to the Atlanta Dream in exchange for two first-round draft picks.
According to the team’s statement, the reason for the trade was “roster balance.”
But BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock isn’t buying it.
On this episode of “Fearless,” he unveils the real reason Reese was chopped after just two years with the Sky.
“I find it odd that the Chicago Sky would jettison her after just two years. I think that speaks to what a headache she was in Chicago,” Whitlock tells his panel — Jay Skapinac, Steve Kim, and Maurice from “Keep the Vision.”
“Teammates didn’t want to play with her; coaches couldn’t corral her. She was out there doing her double-double routine while the Chicago Sky were actually trying to win games or run an offense, and Angel Reese was just out there chasing stats,” he continues.
He asks the panel: “Do you think Angel Reese will adjust her approach, attitude, and style of play?”
“No, no, no, and no,” is Steve Kim’s honest response.
To Reese’s new Dream teammates, he warns, “Get ready to stick your hands out like this and never get the ball because she’s going to get the rebound, get another rebound, get another rebound, another rebound, and another rebound.”
Skapinac agrees: “She can barely — barely — make a layup, and in fact, she doesn’t make layups most of the time.”
“And Jason, I’m with you,” he continues. “She is going to be the locker-room team cancer.
“There’s never been a team — at Maryland, at LSU, and the Chicago Sky — where she didn’t have some sort of locker-room problem with her teammates. People don’t enjoy playing with her,” Whitlock says.
He does believe, however, that Reese may genuinely improve her game with the Atlanta Dream because she finally has the chance to potentially dunk on Caitlin Clark.
“She’s being offered a chance to play on a team that’s a championship-caliber team, and if she can get a WNBA championship before Caitlin Clark, that’s really going to enhance her brand, give her some standing around the league,” he says, “and I think that opportunity may for a short-term bring out the best in Angel Reese.”
To hear more, watch the video above.
Want more from Jason Whitlock?
To enjoy more fearless conversations at the crossroads of culture, faith, sports, and comedy with Jason Whitlock, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.
Legendary coaches praise Trump’s new college sports EO as president vows to protect women’s, Olympic sports
President Donald Trump laid out new ground rules for college-level sports and athletes in a new executive order being praised by some of the biggest names in collegiate sports.
However, some of the president’s proposed limitations are sure to bother some, especially top-earning college athletes.
‘I urge Congress to pass bipartisan legislation and SAVE COLLEGE SPORTS!’
Following a college sports roundtable at the White House in March, the president signed an executive order on Friday to implement “Urgent National Action to Save College Sports.”
The order puts a theoretical cap on student-athlete pay, sets a five-year window for athlete eligibility, and even limits transfers to one per student-athlete in a five-year period.
At the same time, the order — and subsequent fact sheet — make clear and repeated mention of the president’s intention to boost women’s and Olympic sports at the college level. This includes “implementing revenue-sharing in a manner that protects and expands opportunities in women’s and Olympic sports.”
In response, legendary college football coach Nick Saban said the directives allow universities to “preserve opportunities for all sports, including women’s and Olympic sports, not just football and basketball.”
Saban, who coached Alabama from 2007 to 2023, told Fox News that he wanted to “thank the president” for helping “manage and fund all sports.”
Brandon Sumrall/Getty Images
Similarly, Arkansas men’s basketball coach John Calipari came out in defense of the president against any criticisms surrounding the limitation on student-athlete revenue.
“I’ve spent my entire life focusing on the success and well being of student athletes,” Calipari wrote on X Saturday. “Their success in both sports and academics is paramount. I have no problem with Athletes making money and I have had that stance for many years. But what we have been dealing with the last few years is harmful not only to their total success but also the longevity of College Sports as we know it.”
Calipari added: “Yesterday, President Trump took bold action to preserve and protect Collegiate Athletics. I urge Congress to pass bipartisan legislation and SAVE COLLEGE SPORTS!”
Trump’s executive order made specific mention of an alleged “fraudulent name, image, likeness (NIL) scheme” where student-athletes were being paid above “actual fair market value” to play for certain programs.
The idea behind the regulation is to prevent “pay-for-play or player eligibility” in which large schools would essentially pay student-athletes large sums of money through collectives or sponsorships to entice them to their program.
Otherwise, the order states, “fair competition cannot occur.”
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Trump’s executive order defines the fair market value compensation cap around how much a student-athlete can be paid by a third party that is not affiliated with a school’s athletic department.
Henceforth, the student-athlete would have to be paid at rates commensurate with that of non-student-athletes of similar notoriety or fame.
Trump has called on Congress to pass the SCORE Act, which, aside from the above, would prevent schools from restricting students from entering NIL agreements and require schools that generate more than $20 million annually to provide medical benefits to student-athletes, while maintaining at least 16 varsity sports teams.
Trump’s executive order is currently set to take effect August 1.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Faith, ‘divine journey,’ and Trump will ensure unforgettable World Cup, island nation’s soccer president says
The soccer president from the tiny island nation of Curaçao says divine intervention has brought his team to the World Cup and, in turn, to the United States and in front of President Trump.
The executive’s faith is also what has him confidently saying that everyone involved will lead with love, including the president.
‘President Trump will make sure that this will be a World Cup that will not be [forgotten].’
Gilbert Martina, president of the Curaçao Football Federation, humbly avoided bragging about his hard work that turned his nation’s soccer program around. Instead, he credited a long but fruitful “divine journey.”
In an interview with Blaze News, Martina spoke in detail about his many run-ins with divine intervention, including his trip to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., in December.
There, at the World Cup draw, he sat just a few yards away from Trump and came to believe that Trump will act with love and grace to make it the biggest World Cup in history.
“We are all spiritual beings, and we have to take care of each other, and we have to globalize love,” Martina passionately decreed. “And football unites. That’s the slogan of FIFA. So I’m sure all stakeholders and even President Trump will make sure that this will be a World Cup that will not be [forgotten], ever, because it’s the biggest on this planet.”
RELATED: Unpaid bill has Foxboro refusing to grant license for World Cup games at Gillette Stadium
Divine intervention
The former insurance director and CEO of a medical center attributed most of his accomplishments to his divine journey with spirituality and faith. This starts with daily gratefulness, prayer, and meditation before preparing for what is ahead, Martina said.
Persistently pointing to this divine journey, he said he always believed his country would qualify for the World Cup. He offered no other explanation as to how such a small nation could unite in under a year for “a greater purpose.”
“With the universe, with God, with the cosmos, whatever name we want to give it,” his team started “co-creating beauty,” he explained. “Then the magic happens.”
Martina also said there were too many instances and overlapping themes to ignore. On the very day he got the job as president of Curaçao Football Federation in April 2025, he predicted to his wife that his team would make the World Cup.
“There is no coincidence,” Martina declared.
RELATED: Seattle plans World Cup ‘Pride match’ — and two countries that prosecute gays will play in it
ANGEL BATTA/AFP/Getty Images
Putting in the work
What the executive also explained — without giving himself the proper credit — was how he brought his country out of the Stone Age in terms of organization and formalities.
Before his election as president of Curaçao’s soccer federation, the tiny country of about 150,000 had a program that was in shambles. Hotels and travel were not organized, players were not paid on time, and soccer teams within the country were at odds.
“Too much distraction,” Martina said, expressing the stress of the job. “There’s so much things that we had to professionalize, and so that was the focus.”
He continued, “Because if they’re not focused [on qualifying] … you will have too much distraction.”
After Martina became president, Curaçao went undefeated in eight matches (five wins, three ties) and qualified for the World Cup. There, the team will share Group E with Germany, the Ivory Coast, and Ecuador, with its first game against Germany on June 14.
Message for others
Martina compared his approach to life, and to a successful nation, with a hummingbird.
“A hummingbird isn’t going to a garbage nest at KFC or Pizza Hut. A hummingbird always goes for the best nectar, the best flowers, because that’s the best of the best,” he said, mirroring advice he gives in his book, “Healthy Minds, Healthy Nation.”
Martina insisted that people should strive for the best, whether it is in performance, organization, or even nutrition.
“That’s a powerful message. … When we are able to convert that into our daily life, purpose, and intention, beautiful things happen.”
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Video: Dallas Stars fans accused of performing ‘Nazi salutes’ as goal celebration
A ticketholder at a Dallas Stars hockey game has said she called a fan misbehavior hotline on a group of men for doing what she describes as “Nazi salutes.”
The Stars’ home arena and the hockey team are investigating the incident that has gone viral online due to a fan video.
‘It was every goal they were doing it.’
The viral video was taken by Courtney Ripley, a Stars fan who was near the four men in question when they were making the alleged hand gestures during the game.
Typically, fans at American Airlines Center make a fist pump motion while chanting the “Dallas Stars” team name repeatedly. However, Ripley told WFAA-TV that “this group of men were doing Nazi salutes instead.”
“It was shocking,” she said. “It was every goal they were doing it.”
Ripley also said she reported the group of fans to the arena’s fan misbehavior hotline and was told that the organization sent a staff member to speak with the men. However, despite allegedly providing her video and their seat numbers, Ripley said not only was she told the men could not be located but that she never saw staff approach them at all.
“Kind of disappointing on that front too, a little bit,” she told WFAA.
Ripley told the local outlet that the video only recently went viral, despite it being filmed during a December 21 game against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Now, the American Airlines Center is coordinating with the Stars for an investigation.
“American Airlines Arena (AAC) has zero tolerance for any acts of hate and/or discrimination, and we aim to ensure an environment for our guests that is free from disruptive behaviors, including foul/abusive language and obscene gestures,” the arena said in a statement, per ESPN.
“As such, we strongly denounce the actions that appear to be depicted in the video footage and are conducting an internal investigation.”
A spokesperson for the Stars told ESPN on Thursday that the franchise is “fully aligned with the arena’s statement” and is working with the team to “find out exactly what happened.”
Glenn James/NHLI/Getty Images
American Airlines Center has a plethora of prohibited behaviors they list as “disturbances,” which can result in an ejection from the arena. They include standing on chairs, “mooning,” interfering with the game, and lighting a fire.
Obvious infractions also include drunk and disorderly conduct, fighting, throwing objects, or violating laws.
While profanity and offensive words are also prohibited, the arena’s rules do not appear to include anything about gestures unless they are part of “taunting” players, employees, referees, or performers.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Why is ESPN ignoring the ‘BIGGEST story going on in sports’?
Jaden Ivey, a former No. 5 overall pick by the Detroit Pistons in 2022 who was traded to the Chicago Bulls in early February 2026, faced backlash after he went live multiple times on Instagram, sharing extended discussions about his Christian faith, including criticism that the NBA’s Pride Month promotions celebrate “unrighteousness.”
On March 30, the Bulls waived him, citing “conduct detrimental to the team.”
Despite this being “the biggest story going on in sports,” ESPN has largely turned a blind eye to it, says “Fearless” host Jason Whitlock.
“I had my guys … give me a full report on how ESPN covered Jaden Ivey getting waived by the Chicago Bulls for speaking against the LGBTQ alphabet mafia, and ESPN bent over backwards ignoring this story,” Whitlock says.
He calls out the glaring double standards.
“If some lesbian woman had been kicked out of the WNBA for any reason, … ESPN would have endless segments and shows talking about it,” he says.
As a Christian with conservative views on gender and marriage, Ivey, Whitlock argues, “is poison for [ESPN].”
Despite claiming to be sports journalism, ESPN, he explains, “is not interested in the truth” but rather is dedicated to pushing the progressive LGBTQ+ agenda.
Stephen A. Smith, Whitlock argues, is a key component in this agenda-driven network.
“There’s a reason why they installed Stephen A. Smith — a pathological liar — at the top of ESPN. That’s what you do when you have no interest in exploring the truth,” he says.
ESPN is “supposed to be the ‘worldwide [leader] in sports,”’ he continues, and yet it’s intentionally ignoring “the biggest story going on in sports” because it doesn’t align with the pro-LGBTQ+ agenda.
Smith did “a small little one-on-one thing where he said nothing,” and “‘NBA Today’ with Malika Andrews — they didn’t have a full-blown discussion on it; they read a little news clip and just tried to move on,” Whitlock criticizes.
“They don’t want to have this discussion [about Jaden Ivey] because this discussion leads someplace ESPN, Disney, and Bob Iger don’t want this discussion to go.”
To hear more, watch the full episode above.
Want more from Jason Whitlock?
To enjoy more fearless conversations at the crossroads of culture, faith, sports, and comedy with Jason Whitlock, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.
Alex Ovechkin and most of Washington Capitals players skip Pride Night ritual
Washington Capitals players from outside North America may not be as used to Pride Nights as other athletes.
On Saturday night, the Capitals celebrated alternative sexual lifestyles with their “All Caps All Love” night, posting rainbow and transgender flags ahead of their gay-memorabilia auction.
‘We proudly stand with the LGBTQ+ community.’
After the NHL banned themed jerseys in 2023, some fought for the right to use rainbow-colored stick tape, and won. That is how select Capitals players decided to show their gay pride on Saturday night against the reigning champion Florida Panthers, but as the teams took the ice, viewers noticed only eight of the Capitals’ 20 dressed players took part.
John Carlson, Nic Dowd, Brandon Duhaime, Hendrix Lapierre, Connor McMichael, Dylan Strome, Logan Thompson, and Trevor van Riemsdyk were the eight players spotted on video and cited in an article by outlet Russian Machine Never Breaks.
However, missing from the group was captain, and the NHL’s all-time scoring leader, Alexander Ovechkin.
RELATED: Pro-transgender Seattle Kraken jersey enrages NHL fans: ‘Feel some trans joy’
Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images
Interestingly, all of the players that participated were from either the United States or Canada; none of the Capitals players born overseas participated in the stunt.
This included center Aliaksei Protas from Vitebsk, Belarus, left winger Ivan Miroshnichenko from Ussuriysk, Russia, defenseman Martin Fehérváry from Bratislava, Slovakia, and defenseman Rasmus Sandin from Uppsala, Sweden.
Despite their leader and biggest star not participating in their festivities, the Capitals went all out in their support for certain sexual preferences with promotional videos and statements.
“We proudly stand with the LGBTQ+ community, and celebrate the importance of inclusion every day,” Strome, from Mississauga, Canada, said in a team video.
RELATED: Florida Panthers praise Trump during White House visit: ‘Nothing beats this’
Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images
“It was great,” Dowd of Huntsville, Alabama, said in a post-game interview. “Every year we’ve put this on, guys lean into it and support it, and I thought it was another good night. I thought the Caps did a great job of showcasing it.”
The team also hosted the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, D.C., on the ice that night, but that was not enough to push them ahead of the Panthers, and the Capitals lost 5-2.
Fans in Seattle were recently outraged and piled plenty of backlash onto their Seattle Kraken team for supporting transgenderism with a themed logo, which inexplicably featured a unicorn drawn by a tattoo artist who said “queerness” inspires her work.
“Being able to be in Seattle surrounded by the queer community and being exposed to the queerness I never got to experience growing up, it inspires my work a lot,” the artist said.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Florida Panthers praise Trump during White House visit: ‘Nothing beats this’
The Stanley Cup champions were not shy about showing their support for President Trump.
The Florida Panthers visited the White House to celebrate their second-straight league championship over the Edmonton Oilers.
‘I’m so proud to be an American, and I’m so proud to be here with you.’
Trump praised the team on Thursday, shaking hands and listing accomplishments as he remarked that many of the players and staff would be participating in the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy, many of them representing the United States.
Before accepting gifts from the players, the president introduced team owner and billionaire Vincent Viola, who made the Panthers’ support for the administration indisputable.
“I’m going to make it pretty clear that we are honored to be here, we are honored to be here with you as the president,” Viola said, keeping his words short.
Then star player Matthew Tkachuk took the podium to relish being an American at the White House.
“I want to say on behalf of the whole organization, mainly the players, we are so honored to be here. Being an American … nothing beats this, I’m so proud to be an American, and I’m so proud to be here with you,” Tkachuk said, motioning to Trump.
RELATED: Video: Golfer attacks NHL fighter, learns valuable lesson: ‘You’re not a tough guy!’
Tkachuk noted the pain and effort that is required to win a Stanley Cup, stating, “Winning, it takes a toll, you pay a price for it.”
The 28-year-old certainly relished the moment and said he looked forward to wearing the red, white, and blue at the Winter Olympics.
“Representing you and the millions back here, next month at the Olympics, will be one of the highlights of my life as well,” he told the president.
Defenseman Seth Jones then presented President Trump with a Stanley Cup ring, captain Aleksander “Sasha” Barkov gave the president a No. 47 jersey, and Tkachuk presented Trump with a golden hockey stick.
As the team dispersed, an orchestral version of “We Are the Champions” by Queen played as Trump walked off the stage.
Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
The Panthers kept the Stanley Cup out of the hands of Canadian teams for yet another year with their second-straight win over the Oilers and their third-straight appearance in the finals.
No Canadian team has won the cup since the 1993 Montreal Canadiens. Interestingly Florida’s other team, the Tampa Bay Lightning, appeared in three-straight finals before the Panthers and won two also.
Oilers captain Connor McDavid, who is widely regarded as the best player in the world, has split fans in recent years for defending the highly controversial gay pride nights in the NHL.
“It’s not my call, but obviously it’s disappointing,” he said in 2023. “I certainly can’t speak for every organization. … I know in Edmonton, we were one of the first teams to use the Pride tape,” the star boasted.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Renee Good’s shooting won’t spark a ‘George Floyd 2.0’ — here’s why
Yesterday, in south Minneapolis, 37-year-old U.S. citizen Renee Nicole Good was fatally shot by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent during a large-scale federal immigration enforcement operation. Good allegedly weaponized her SUV in an attempt to ram and run over the agent who shot her.
President Trump and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem have framed the officer’s actions as self-defense, while Democrat officials, most notably Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey, and Rep. Ilhan Omar, have framed the incident as the unjustified and reckless killing of an innocent observer. They, as well as other Democrat officials, have publicly claimed that Good was merely trying to drive away, even though video footage captures the ICE agents being propelled backward from the impact of Good’s vehicle.
BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock says it’s clear Democrats are hoping to turn this into a “George Floyd 2.0.” On this episode of “Jason Whitlock Harmony,” Whitlock and contributors Shemeka Michelle, Dre Baldwin, and Virgil Walker explain why their plan is bound to fail.
Shemeka says it’s unlikely that Good’s death will be as politically profitable as Floyd’s. For one, Good is a “white woman,” she says, meaning her race automatically disqualifies her from being the ideal victim the left seeks to push its social justice wars.
“Number two, this happened during the dead of winter. I don’t know how many black people they’re going to get to go out and be in the streets for long periods of time,” she adds, alluding to the orchestrated, heavily funded, not-at-all grassroots movement that was BLM.
Whitlock speculates that if Good had been a black woman, a George Floyd 2.0 would still be an impossibility because the officer — out of fear of vicious backlash — would likely have refrained from shooting.
But Baldwin disagrees. “I think the ICE agent probably still would’ve shot had it been a black woman. I still don’t think it would be as big of a deal as George Floyd because George Floyd, if you looked at the video (just the 90 second clip that came out), he appeared completely innocent and not a threat,” he counters, “whereas this woman … was behind the wheel of a vehicle. … [Good] was playing offense in some way.”
Walker, however, notes that recent studies indicate that law enforcement is less likely to use deadly force when the perpetrator is black. Had Good been black, he thinks there might have been at least “a delay in response” from the shooting officer.
“At the end of the day, I think legally speaking, what prosecutors are going to be looking at, what people are going to be trying to determine is: At the time that the officer pulled the trigger, was the vehicle aiming at him in such a way that he would be directly hit? That’s the sliver that everybody is trying to figure out,” he adds.
In regard to the incident being escalated into a George Floyd 2.0, Walker says he highly doubts Good’s case has the makings of a BLM-level movement.
Want more from Jason Whitlock?
To enjoy more fearless conversations at the crossroads of culture, faith, sports, and comedy with Jason Whitlock, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.
Pro-transgender Seattle Kraken jersey enrages NHL fans: ‘Feel some trans joy’
The NHL may have banned Pride-themed warm-up jerseys, but that did not stop the Seattle Kraken from releasing their own transgender jersey this week.
One of the newest NHL franchises, the Kraken jumped out of the gate with wokeness in 2021 by naming their home rink Climate Pledge Arena, as a “rallying call” for companies and organizations to “commit to net-zero carbon by 2040, a decade ahead of the Paris Agreement.”
‘I hope that people can, like, see the logo and, like, feel some trans joy and queer joy, too!’
The NHL struggled with backlash over Pride Night jerseys in 2023, with select Russian and Canadian players refusing to wear the sexuality-themed attire. The league eventually banned all themed warm-up jerseys, but launched a Player Inclusion Coalition just a week later.
With the league being no stranger to leftist ideology, the Kraken have found a work-around for 2026 despite gender- and sex-based events seeing significantly less support in the United States. The team released a transgender unicorn jersey this week, announcing they would auction off the bizarre design online for their Pride Night.
RELATED: NHL reverses ban on rainbow Pride stick tape; LGBTQ group calls it ‘a win for us all’
The team included transgender and gay Pride flags on their post announcing the jersey, and the artist who designed the unicorn clarified the transgender inspiration.
Tattoo artist Vegas Vecchio was profiled by the hockey organization and, after immediately announcing her “they/them pronouns,” rattled off strange rantings about being “exposed” to “queerness.”
“Being able to be in Seattle surrounded by the queer community and being exposed to the queerness I never got to experience growing up, it inspires my work a lot,” she explained.
“I ended up doing the unicorn; it seems like such a classic queer symbol,” she continued. “And I was like, ‘If anyone is going to do a unicorn, it’s going to be me.’ I hope that people can, like, see the logo and, like, feel some trans joy and queer joy, too!”
The artist also noted that people would describe her artwork as “very gay.”
Photo by Caean Couto/NHLI via Getty Images
Fans revolted in the comments on the Kraken’s post on X, with several asking if the jersey was actually meant as a joke.
“Hardcore stupidity. Are you going to start doing straight jerseys also?” another X user wrote.
“That’s not a Kraken. No matter how it identifies,” another fan joked about the logo.
Alongside dozens of less-than-safe-for-work memes, one fan called the jerseys a “humiliation ritual” for the players. However, Kraken players did not seem bothered by the design.
Canadian players Ryan Winterton, Brandon Montour, and Tye Kartye all went along with the controversial photo shoot, while German goalie Philipp Grubauer made a public statement on the topic at the same time.
“It’s so important to create a safe and inclusive space within the hockey community,” he said in a team post. “As a proud ally of the LGBTQ+ community, I’ll continue to stand by your side.”
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
Whitlock called it: Harbaugh fired ONE day after he predicted it — and he says Mike Tomlin is next
Yesterday, John Harbaugh — longtime head coach of the Baltimore Ravens — was fired, ending his 18-year tenure with the team. The decision came just two days after the Ravens finished the 2025 season with an 8-9 record, missing the playoffs following a 26-24 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 18, where a missed field goal as time expired cost them the AFC North title.
In the two days between the Ravens’ season ender and Harbaugh’s firing, Jason Whitlock, BlazeTV’s resident NFL expert, predicted this would happen. He argued the game-ending play — where star running back Derrick Henry sat the bench while Lamar Jackson took a knee, forcing the team’s rookie kicker to attempt (and miss) a field goal — was a “fireable offense” for Harbaugh.
One day later, the team issued an official statement, confirmed by owner Steve Bisciotti, that the longtime coach had been fired.
On this episode of “Fearless,” Whitlock addresses the shocking news and explains the broader implications.
“[Harbaugh] and Lamar Jackson popularized the whole RPO offense that has overtaken the National Football League,” Whitlock says, calling the dynamic duo “the face of the run-pass option offense.”
“And this is the thanks [Harbaugh] gets? He gets fired because … Tyler Loop misses a kick? He gets fired … in a year where Lamar Jackson was injured and missed 4 to 5, 6 games?” he asks, stunned.
Whitlock says that according to reports he’s read, “The split wasn’t about John Harbaugh; it was about John Harbaugh’s loyalty to Todd Monken, the offensive coordinator.” Apparently, the Ravens wanted to fire Monken, but Harbaugh refused.
“According to the reports, Lamar Jackson had no problem … with John Harbaugh. His problem was with the OC,” Whitlock explains.
The next layer of Harbaugh’s firing is even more important, however.
“Harbaugh getting fired puts incredible pressure on [Pittsburgh Steelers head coach] Mike Tomlin,” Whitlock says.
“If John Harbaugh can get fired with that record and what he and Lamar Jackson have brought to the forefront with the RPO offense, Mike Tomlin has to be on the clock — has to be.”
“The pressure now switches to Tomlin,” he says, referring to the Steelers’ upcoming playoff game against the Houston Texans.
“The pressure on Mike Tomlin is now intensified incredibly. How is Mike Tomlin going to survive if he loses to the Houston Texans? If you can fire John Harbaugh, you can fire anybody,” he says.
To hear more of Whitlock’s analysis, watch the episode above.
Want more from Jason Whitlock?
To enjoy more fearless conversations at the crossroads of culture, faith, sports, and comedy with Jason Whitlock, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.
