Infante, Tobin Fired By Colts; Polian Hired On

The housecleaning came quickly for the Indianapolis Colts.

Owner Jim Irsay reacted to the team’s league-worst 3-13 record by firing Lindy Infante as coach and Bill Tobin as vice president and director of football operations Monday.

The firings and hiring of Carolina general manager Bill Polian to a six-year contract as president came less than 24 hours after the season ended.

Irsay said he acted quickly because Polian was under contract to Carolina, and Panthers’ owner Jerry Richardson gave him a Monday deadline to close the deal. The Colts will send their third-round pick in the April draft to Carolina for the signing.

“You don’t replace people unless you think you can do better,” Irsay said. “I believe in continuity. … I wish I didn’t have to make a change. … This year has been very hectic. The bottom line is we’re 3-13 and 8-21 our last 29 games, and the program has been in the hands of Bill Tobin.”

“There was very little discussion, other than that he was going in a different direction,” Tobin said of his Monday meeting with Irsay. “In the history of this league, there’s never been a head coach or a general manager fire an owner.”

Infante, 12-20 in two seasons, said, “It’s good that it’s over, it’s good that it’s done. The biggest fear in life is fear of the unknown.”

Polian, 55, will oversee all football operations and will work with Irsay to select Infante’s replacement.

Three unanimous All-Pro

Barry Sanders, the third NFL player to rush for 2,000 yards in a season; center Dermontti Dawson; and defensive end Dana Stubblefield were unanimous selections for The Associated Press All-Pro Team.

Sanders, the Detroit Lions’ star running back, made the squad for the sixth time, earning votes from all 48 members of a nationwide panel of sports writers and broadcasters. Pittsburgh’s Dawson, the leading vote-getter last season, was the only center named on any ballot. San Francisco tackle Stubblefield was the leader among defensive players and the only 49er to make All-Pro.

Buffalo defensive end Bruce Smith was chosen for the eighth time and, like Dawson and defensive tackle John Randle of Minnesota, made it for the fifth consecutive season.

Green Bay’s Brett Favre, the league’s most valuable player the past two years - the MVP will be announced Saturday, and nobody has won it three times - was an easy winner at quarterback.

Second-round pairings set

The Pittsburgh Steelers and San Francisco 49ers will be the hosts for NFL playoff games on Saturday, Jan. 3, with Green Bay and Kansas City playing home games the next day.

The Steelers, No. 2 in the AFC, will begin the second round of the playoffs at 9:30 a.m. PST against either the third, fourth or fifth seed in the AFC.

That means they could play either New England, Denver, Jacksonville. The Patriots are seeded third, the Broncos are seeded fourth, the Jaguars fifth and the Dolphins sixth by virtue of Monday’s 14-12 loss to New England.

That will be followed at 1 p.m. by a game between the 49ers, the NFC’s top seed, against either Tampa Bay (4), Detroit (5) or Minnesota (6).

The Packers, the NFC’s second seed, will play the first game Sunday, against the New York Giants (3), the Bucs or Lions. Then, the Chiefs, top-seeded in the AFC, will play one of the four AFC qualifiers.

AFC games will be televised by NBC, NFC by Fox.

Around the league

Buffalo Bills coach Marv Levy, 72, refused to say whether he would return next season, saying he would not discuss his own future or that of his staff before meeting with Bills owner Ralph Wilson to discuss the team’s direction. … Barry Switzer’s days as Dallas coach appear numbered, with owner Jerry Jones the only one who can say when that number is up following the Cowboys’ most disappointing season since 1989. At the very least, Jones is expected to ax one or more assistant coaches and several players… Tight end Alfred Pupunu, who played in the Super Bowl for the San Diego Chargers two years ago, was signed by the New York Giants Monday, less than a week before the start of the playoffs. He played one game each with San Diego and Kansas City this season… . Nearly two months after suffering the most serious concussion of his career, San Diego quarterback Stan Humphries still has severe headaches and says deciding whether to retire is “going to be a tough decision.”