The Carolina Panthers will hire Dave Canales as head coach.

Canales was most recently offensive coordinator of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Todd Bowles says Baker Mayfield has earned the right to return to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2024.

Mayfield, who was on a one-year deal, led the Buccaneers to a Wild Card win over the Philadelphia Eagles before falling to the Detroit Lions on Sunday afternoon.

"He most definitely has," Bowles said of Mayfield playing well enough to return. "Obviously, it's too early to talk about that and business is business, but Baker had a hell of a year. We love him. The guys love him. And we'll see what the future holds."

The Detroit Lions defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 31-23 to reach the NFC Championship Game for the first time since 1991. The Lions will play at the San Francisco 49ers where they opened as 7-point underdogs. 

"So, this team is going to be built on, we're going to kick you in the teeth, right? And when you punch us back, we're going to smile at you," Dan Campbell told reporters. "And when you knock us down, we're going to get up and, on the way up, we're going to bite a kneecap off. All right?"

Christian McCaffrey scored his second touchdown on a 6-yard run with 1:07 to play, and the San Francisco 49ers mounted their first second-half comeback of the season to defeat the Green Bay Packers 24-21 in a divisional round playoff game on Saturday night.

After spending the regular season as front-runners, the Niners (13-5) needed to come from behind for a change, and Brock Purdy and McCaffrey did just enough on the last drive to send San Francisco to its third straight NFC Championship Game. The Niners will host the winner of Sunday's game between Tampa Bay and Detroit next weekend for a spot in the Super Bowl.

Divisional Round weekend for the 2023 NFL season will take place over two days on January 20th and 21st.

Saturday, January 20

• Houston Texans (Total DVOA: 12, Offense DVOA: 14, Defense DVOA: 16) at Baltimore Ravens (Total DVOA: 1, Offense DVOA: 4, Defense DVOA: 1)

4:30 PM EST, ESPN, Baltimore -9.5, Total: 43.5

• Green Bay Packers (Total DVOA: 13, Offense DVOA: 6, Defense DVOA: 27) at San Francisco 49ers (Total DVOA: 2, Offense DVOA: 1, Defense DVOA: 4)

8:15 PM EST, FOX, San Francisco -9.5, Total: 50.5

Sunday, January 21

• Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Total DVOA: 18, Offense DVOA: 20, Defense DVOA: 14) at Detroit Lions (Total DVOA: 7, Offense DVOA: 5, Defense DVOA: 13)

3:00 PM EST, NBC, Detroit -6.5, Total: 49.5

Saturday, January 20

• Kansas City Chiefs (Total DVOA: 5, Offense DVOA: 8, Defense DVOA: 7) at Buffalo Bills (Total DVOA: 3, Offense DVOA: 3, Defense DVOA: 12)

6:30 PM EST, CBS, Buffalo -2.5, Total 45.5

The San Francisco 49ers pursued Tom Brady during the 2023 offseason. Brady retired again after the 2022 season as his time with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers came to an obvious end.

Kyle Shanahan had interest in pursuing Brady as Brock Purdy was coming off his UCL injury in his right elbow.

Shanahan told Purdy that he would be the starting quarterback unless Brady wanted to join the 49ers.

"That meant so much to me," Purdy said. "I remember him saying, if we can get Tom Brady, we're going to try to get him. And I was like, 'Yeah, he's the GOAT. I get it.' But something deep down inside me was sort of like, 'Dude, I just showed you that I can play well in this system. And we were one game away from the Super Bowl.' ... More than anything, I was like, 'OK, now let's go.'"

Wildcard weekend for the 2023 NFL season will take place over three days on Jan. 13, 14 and 15.

NFC
•  (7) Green Bay Packers at (2) Dallas Cowboys (-7.5)
Sunday, 4:30 p.m. ET on Fox

• (6) Los Angeles Rams at (3) Detroit Lions (-3.5)
Sunday, 8:15 p.m. ET on NBC

•  (5) Philadelphia Eagles at (4) Tampa Bay Buccaneers (+2.5)
Monday, 8 p.m. ET on ESPN, ABC, ESPN2 and ESPN+

• Bye: (1) San Francisco 49ers

AFC

• (5) Cleveland Browns at (4) Houston Texans (+2.5)
Saturday, 4:30 p.m. ET on NBC

• (6) Miami Dolphins at (3) Kansas City Chiefs (-3.5)
Saturday, 8:15 p.m. ET on Peacock

• (7) Pittsburgh Steelers at (2) Buffalo Bills (-10.0)
Sunday, 1 p.m. ET on CBS

• Bye: (1) Baltimore Ravens