Lindholm: Is Defense Dead In The NFL?

CBS Chicago

By Scott Lindholm-

(CBS) It’s a new day in the NFL, one that seriously brings into question the importance of defense. This chart shows the gradual increase in points per game and yardage per game from 1970 through this year:

Adapted from data at pro-football-reference.com

This chart shows how the Bears ranked in both points scored and points allowed from 1970-2013. In both cases, the closer to 1 the better:

Adapted from data at pro-football-reference.com

As every Bears fan can attest, it’s been a rare year in which both the offense and defense were among the best in the league other than the obvious examples of 2006 and 1985. The Bears have consistently been among the best defenses in football, but a potent offense was much more difficult to achieve.

An argument can be made that going into 2013, the Bears defense was running on fumes–Brian Urlacher retired, Lance Briggs…

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4 Million People Expected To Use O’Hare, Midway For Holiday Travel

CBS Chicago

CHICAGO (CBS) — Many people are packing their bags, getting set to head out of town for the holidays. Friday is the busiest travel day of the season at O’Hare and Midway airports.

Although freezing rain was falling in parts of the Chicago area, both airports were reporting normal operations early Friday.

An estimated 209,000 passengers were expected to travel through O’Hare International Airport on Friday. Another 66,000 were expected to fly through Midway International Airport. In all, an estimated 4 million travelers are expected to fly through the two Chicago airports from Friday, Dec. 20, through Monday, Jan. 6.

[worldnow id=9655992 width=385 height=288 type=video]

Among those taking to the skies Friday morning was a Navy recruit planning a surprise for his parents for Christmas.

“My mom and dad do not know I’m coming home. I kept it a secret from them. I’m going to meet them in a restaurant…

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New Museum Shows How Your Life Could Have Been 600,000 Years Ago

World

To the south of Rome, a new museum will shed light into what life may have been like – 600,000 years ago.

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Trial Delayed For Man Charged With Fatally Beating Girlfriend

CBS Chicago

WAUKEGAN, Ill. (STMW) — The trial of an Antioch Township man accused of murdering his live-in girlfriend has been delayed from Jan. 6 until March 31.

Michael Axtell, 42, is charged with first-degree murder in the beating death of Tammy Stone, 40, in October 2012.

It is the second time the trial has been delayed since summer, with some of the pretrial and trial delays related to the need for both sides in the case to have access to medical records and pathologist reports.

Stone was fatally injured after calling her 19-year-old daughter to tell her that Axtell had struck her in the eye at her home on Bond Avenue. The daughter arrived to find her mother with a swollen and black left eye.

According to Lake County Sheriff’s reports, the daughter and Axtell got into a physical altercation regarding the mother’s injuries and the daughter, who was not injured…

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S&P just cut the credit rating of an entire continent

Watch 12-Year-Old Beyoncé in the Performance That Inspired ‘***Flawless’

NewsFeed

In “***Flawless,” a new song off of her freshly released self-titled album, Beyoncé opens with an audio clip from the time she appeared on the televised talent show Star Search with the “hip hop rappin'” group Girls Tyme. The group lost by one star to some hair metal band named Skeleton Crew, and Beyoncé has said that this is the first time she realized that no matter how hard you work, you can still fail.

Despite the loss, the performance itself is pretty adorable. And we don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to say that Beyoncé ended up the real winner.

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Greipel confirmed for Tour Down Under 2014

Sykose Extreme Sports News

Andre Greipel celebrates after winning stage 1 of the Tour Down Under 2013. Photo: Getty Images

German cycling star Andre Greipel will chase a third Tour Down Under title with the sprinter’s place in the January event confirmed on Friday.

Greipel has won 14 Tour Down Under stages, including three in the 2013 edition and is looking forward to starting his cycling season in Australia for the seventh consecutive year.

“The race has become a bit tougher each year, but I see three opportunities to sprint in this edition. The aim is a stage victory,” Greipel said.

“It will be the first time that the sprint train will be put on the rails next season and that we can put it to the test.

“We leave two weeks before the start, so we can train in the most optimal conditions. In Australia we are sure to have good weather.”

The…

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