Author: staff

He missed the 2012 season when the NFL suspended Payton, assistant coach Joe Vitt, general manager Mickey Loomis and four players after an investigation found the Saints had a performance pool offering cash rewards for key plays, including big hits. The player suspensions eventually were overturned by former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, and Payton was reinstated early in 2013.

Similarly, some Bears fans figure to feel a certain level of disappointment when they realize Rick Smith, the former Houston Texans GM and executive vice president of football operations, never interviewed here. Smith, according to one league source, privately expressed interest in learning more about the Bears’ future plans as early as December, before it was known what exactly the organization planned to do with then-GM Ryan Pace or team president/CEO Ted Phillips.

The fire first was reported around 1:55 a.m. at 8215 S. Cornell Ave. on the Far South Side, according to information from the police and fire departments. Paramedics took the woman in critical condition to University of Chicago Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead at 2:53 a.m., according to information from the Cook County medical examiner’s office, which had not released information about the woman’s identity Tuesday morning.