Zambian football is in mourning after seven players from Chavuma Town Council FC were killed in a bus crash.

The country’s football association (Faz) expressed its “deep shock” at the accident, which occurred on Saturday while the squad was travelling to a third-tier league game in the north west of the country.

“We are in touch with the football, civil and law enforcement authorities in the province to furnish us with full details,” Faz president Andrew Kamanga said.

Twelve other people were injured in the accident, and five of those have been evacuated to the capital Lusaka for treatment.

The names of those killed and injured have not been released.

Confederation of African Football (Caf) president Patrice Motsepe said he and the governing body “hope and pray” that those injured will fully recover soon.

“I convey my personal and Caf’s deepest condolences,” Motsepe added in a statement.

“May God comfort and console the family, friends and colleagues of the deceased and the Football Association of Zambia.

“May the souls of the departed players rest in eternal peace.”

Artur de Almeida e Silva, the president of the council of Southern Africa’s regional FAs, said the loss of young lives in such a manner was “truly heartbreaking”.

“Football is a sport that unites us, bringing joy and pride to communities across our region,” he said in a letter to his counterpart at Faz.

“In this tragic moment, we share in your grief and offer our heartfelt sympathies to the families and friends who are mourning this immense loss.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with those who are still receiving treatment for their injuries.”

Chicago Bears cornerback Tyrique Stevenson apologized after video posted on social media showed him taunting Washington Commanders fans seconds before he and his teammates gave up a Hail Mary touchdown with time expired to lose to the Commanders 18-15 on Sunday. 

Video posted on social media showed Stevenson pointing toward the stands and raising his arms in the air with his back to the play when the ball was snapped. He was late to get to the play and missed the chance to prevent Zach Ertz from tipping the ball up for Noah Brown to catch in the end zone.

“It comes down to that last play and we’ve practiced that play a hundred times since we’ve been here,” Bears coach Matt Eberflus said. “I’ll have to look at what the execution was on that, but we have a body on a body, boxing guys out like basketball at the very end. We have one guy at the rim that knocks the ball down. We’ve got a tip guy that goes behind the pile. I’ve got to look at it and detail it out and make sure we’re better next time.”

Stevenson later apologized on social media for his actions, saying “improvement will happen.”

The Bears, who were coming off their bye, had their winning streak ended at three. They had just gone ahead with 25 seconds left on Roschon Johnson’s 1-yard touchdown run. 

“When you lose a game like that, that’s a tough one to swallow,” Eberflus said. “Was excited how they battled back to have a chance to win that game. It’s important to look at that, too.” 

Stevenson made seven tackles and had one pass defensed earlier in the game. He struggled in coverage as Chicago allowed Jayden Daniels to throw for 326 yards.

There were plenty of problems before the Hail Mary, including Caleb Williams fumbling an exchange with offensive lineman Doug Kramer earlier in the fourth quarter. Williams also at one point took a sack to knock the Bears out of field goal range and went 10 of 24 passing, his fewest completions of his young NFL career.

“I’ve got to be better,” Williams said. “I’ve got to get the ball out of my hands. I’ve got to throw it out of bounds in that situation. The toughest part about the job is you want to go out and make plays and do special things, but you also have to understand that’s the play.”

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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The New York Jets made some major changes to try to jumpstart a once-promising season that was heading downhill.

Robert Saleh was fired as coach after a 2-3 start, interim coach Jeff Ulbrich changed offensive play callers and the Jets acquired Davante Adams to reunite him with Aaron Rodgers.

New York is somehow in even worse shape now.

The Jets lost 25-22 on Sunday to a New England team that had lost six straight and was forced to bring in Jacoby Brissett, the quarterback during the Patriots‘ 1-4 start. Brissett, playing after rookie Drake Maye was sidelined with a concussion, led New England to its first home win in more than a year.

And helped send New York to its fifth straight loss — and third in a row under Ulbrich. The Jets are now tied with the Patriots for last place in the AFC East.

“This is a moment of darkness, and we understand that the outside world is going to get really loud right now,” Ulbrich said.

Added Rodgers: “Yeah, I’ve been in the darkness. You’ve got to go in there, make peace with it.”

Greg Zuerlein missed two kicks — a field goal and an extra point — and the Jets burned through all three first-half timeouts in the first quarter, two of them 44 seconds apart on the same drive.

“On one of them, we were lagging out of the huddle, one I was trying to get the protection right,” said Rodgers, who threw for 233 yards and two touchdowns. “One I felt like we could have gotten off, but it was fine to take it there. Our operation was a little slow at times.”

New York used a timeout after an incomplete pass where Rodgers looked for Garrett Wilson. That timeout would have been handy during the Jets’ final drive that began from their own 30-yard line with 22 seconds remaining.

Another clock mishap occurred when New York drew a delay of game while lining up for a 2-point conversion after Braelon Allen rushed for a 2-yard touchdown with 2:57 remaining. From the 7, Rodgers completed a pass to the 5 and the attempt failed.

“We’ve got to be better from an operations standpoint, just overall, and that’s every single player, every single coach. That’s Aaron. That’s all of us,” Ulbrich said.

Zuerlein missed an extra-point try in the first quarter, then was wide left on his 44-yard field goal attempt that would have enabled the Jets to pad their 16-14 lead in the fourth quarter. The veteran has missed six field goals this season.

Ulbrich insisted he didn’t regret sticking with Zuerlein despite his recent misses.

“We’ve got to take a hard look at everything that we do, everything,” Ulbrich said. “It’s not just on Greg, it’s on all of us. We’ll do that this week.”

Haason Reddick’s debut after a lengthy holdout didn’t provide an immediate lift to New York’s defense.

The Jets allowed a Patriots offense that struggled mightily during Brissett’s five-game run as the starting quarterback to reach the end zone twice during the second half. On the winning drive, the Jets allowed the Patriots to convert a third-and-10 as cornerback Sauce Gardner was defending on the 34-yard pass play that moved the ball to the Jets 9-yard line.

“The NFL is hard. It’s hard to win. Harder when you make it difficult on yourself,” Rodgers said.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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