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More than 2,000 Cleveland Browns fans held a parade in Cleveland on Saturday to mark the team's 0-16 season. The event was named the Perfect Season Parade 2.0 after the Browns became just the second team in NFL history to finish a season 0-16. The Detroit Lions also accomplished the feat in 2008. The parade was considered a protest to criticize the team's losing ways.
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"It was that kind of macabre-type humor that I think the Browns fans have," organizer Chris McNeil told ESPN. "I think we have every right to have after this organization has given us nothing now for how many years."
The parade included a pickup truck sponsored by a funeral home with a casket on the back and several Browns-painted buses with signs criticizing team owner Jimmy Haslam and the front office. Many fans watching or participating in the parade had bags over their heads.
In addition, a Browns' quarterback graveyard with faux headstones of every starting quarterback the team has had since 1999 appeared as well.
--In the wake of a published report that detailed a growing rift among the key figures at the top of the New England Patriots' food chain, team owner Robert Kraft said he has no doubt that Bill Belichick will remain his coach.
Kraft told Sports Illustrated's Peter King that he "absolutely" believes Belichick will be coaching the Patriots in 2018. The longtime owner of the team also disputed portions of an ESPN report that claimed "serious disagreements" among Kraft, Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady threatens the future of the franchise that has won five Super Bowls in the past 16 seasons.
According to the ESPN report, Belichick was furious and demoralized when Kraft sided with Brady on the decision to trade backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo to San Francisco. The Patriots responded to the report Friday by releasing a joining statement from Kraft, Belichick and Brady that offered a united front.
Kraft took it a step further in a phone interview with King, dismissing the ESPN report that he and Belichick spent half a day discussing the situation of Garoppolo as "a total fabrication and fiction. I am telling you, it's fiction."
--Jon Gruden is not expected to be announced as the new coach of the Oakland Raiders until Tuesday, but his longtime Monday Night Football broadcast partner did not wait to bid him farewell.
In leading off ABC's telecast of Saturday afternoon's wild-card game between the Tennessee Titans and Kansas City Chiefs, play-by-play announcer Sean McDonough wasted no time revealing one of the worst-kept secrets in sports.
"It's an emotional and bittersweet day for our Monday Night Football family as today we say goodbye to Coach Gruden after nine very distinguished years," McDonough said. "But I know you're looking forward to getting back to coaching. We congratulate you as you head back to the sideline with the Raiders."
Gruden, who has been with ESPN since 2009 and reportedly has agreed to a 10-year contract worth an estimated $100 million with Oakland, responded by basically saying it's not a done deal before quickly deflecting to the game at hand.
"Well, thank you, nothing's official yet, but these Chiefs fans have been on my case since I got here," Gruden said. "What a great place for a big game."
--The Carolina Panthers signed head coach Ron Rivera to a two-year extension, the team announced.
Rivera, in his seventh season as the Panthers head coach, has a 64-47-1 record and guided the team to the Super Bowl in the 2015 season. Carolina, which will play at New Orleans on Sunday in a wild-card game, has been to the playoffs four times in the past five seasons.
His previous contract ran through the 2018 season.
"I'm very excited about it because I really like where we are as a football team," Rivera said in a statement. "We've done some really good things and we have an opportunity to do more. Things are in place and we can continue this success. We've had consistency of winning and we've gone to the playoffs four out of five years."
--The Green Bay Packers are turning to their past to get their offense jump-started in the future.
Joe Philbin, who once served as an offensive coordinator under Packers head coach Mike McCarthy, has agreed to return to the team, multiple media outlets reported.
The NFL Network initially reported that Green Bay planned to interview Philbin before ESPN followed with the news that the longtime coach agreed to return to the club.
The Journal Sentinel of Milwaukee, citing a source, confirmed the news that Philbin will be back with the Packers in a yet-to-be-defined offensive role. Philbin presided over some of the best offensive seasons in the Green Bay's storied history.
--Carolina right guard Trai Turner has cleared concussion protocol is likely to play Sunday when the Panthers play at the New Orleans Saints, according to multiple reports.
Turner has missed three games since suffering the head injury in Week 14.
Head coach Ron Rivera said Friday that Turner fully participated in practice this week. Turner's replacement the past three games was Amini Silatolu.
Turner, a two-time Pro Bowl player, has started 54 games in his first four seasons in the NFL, all with the Panthers. He signed a four-year contract extension worth a reported $45 million this summer.
--Former NFL players Donovan McNabb and Eric Davis were fired by ESPN following an investigation of sexual misconduct allegations while the pair worked for the NFL Network.
"They are no longer working for us," ESPN said in a statement released Saturday.
McNabb and Davis were among those named in a lawsuit by former NFL Network employee Jami Cantor, who sued NFL Enterprises in Los Angeles Superior Court in October.
McNabb had been working for ESPN as a radio host while Davis worked for ESPNLA Radio when the charges came to light. ESPN released a statement when the charges became public that "McNabb and Davis will not appear on our networks as that investigation proceeds."
In Cantor's lawsuit, she accused McNabb of sending her sexually explicit messages, while alleging that Davis make lewd comments toward her.
