No football metric measures how fast teammates rush to their quarterback’s defense, but the way the Bears responded Sunday at Soldier Field to an out-of-bounds hit on Mitch Trubisky revealed something as important as any of Trubisky’s numbers.

Here’s a link to the story at the Southern Illinoisan.

The College Football Playoff rankings held steady at the top, with Alabama, Clemson, Notre Dame and Michigan an unchanged first four from last week.

Here’s a link to the story at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Oakland’s Bob Melvin and Atlanta’s Brian Snitker were named managers of the year in the American League and National League on Tuesday, with voters from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America clinging to tradition by choosing the architects of the biggest year-over-year surprises in either league. Both the Athletics and Braves were picked to finish near the bottom of their divisions in 2018, but made the playoffs.

Here’s a link to the story at the Southern Illinoisan.

Illinois coach Brad Underwood walked into the locker room after an encouraging 88-80 loss to Georgetown and liked what he saw: A bunch of angry players.

Here’s a link to the story at the Chicago Tribune.