Le Journal

The way C.J. Gardner-Johnson sees it, Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen’s biggest challenge — folding Jaylon Johnson and Kyler Gordon back into his cornerbacks room — won’t turn out to be much of one at all.“He’s just putting the best players in the best positions,” Gardner-Johnson said after Friday’s 24-15 win against the Eagles. “We’re all good in our own ways. To have Kyler back, to have Jaylon back, it adds more versatility. We can play more man, we can blitz more, we can drop in coverage. It gives a different look each time we go out there.“To be honest with you, it makes it easy for him to make the play call. He asks how we’re feeling, and we give him how we’re feeling.”They felt good Friday, when Allen played dime defense — with six defensive backs — a whopping 23 times. He did it 10 times on third down; the Eagles converted only three of them, all when they trailed by 15 in the game’s final five minutes.It will be fascinating to see how Allen continues to use what has become a luxurious glut of cornerbacks, particularly with his entire starting linebacker corps having missed the last two games.Allen’s goal is to put his best 11 players on the field. Four of them are cornerbacks. Consider:• Outside cornerback Nahshon Wright, who ripped the ball away from Jalen Hurts on his third-quarter “Tush Push,” leads all NFL defenders with three fumble recoveries and is tied for second with five interceptions. On a one-year, $1.1 million deal, Wright might be the best value in all of football.• Gardner-Johnson has three sacks in five games with the Bears. Only one NFL defensive back has more during the entire season. The Bears are getting more than they expected from the slot cornerback, whom they signed a month ago Saturday because of his familiarity with Allen’s defense. Like Wright, he never left the field Friday.• Johnson, a two-time Pro Bowl player, returned from groin surgery Sunday and started the game. He played 61% of the Bears’ snaps Friday, a rate that will go up as his conditioning improves. He’s played only two games all year but is widely considered their best defensive player.• Gordon played 67% of the downs, rotating between outside cornerback and the slot. Gordon, who has played only three games because of hamstring and calf injuries, was the only player Allen cited in his introductory press conference. Three months later, he got a contract extension.That list doesn’t include Tyrique Stevenson, who ranks eighth in the NFL in pass breakups but missed Friday’s game with a hip injury, or super-sub Nick McCloud, who played 19% of the time against the Eagles.“I feel like we've really not even peaked at all yet,” Johnson said. “I feel like just really kinda get a rhythm of things, see who goes where.“You’ve got a lot more to see from [Allen] — and see where this defense can really go.”Gordon has had fun watching Allen present his game plan every week — “You get excited about it,” he said — and presumes his defensive coordinator will get even more creative now that his cornerbacks room is almost back to full strength.“It helps disguise different looks, a multitude of things. …” he said. “A lot of advantages.”For coach Ben Johnson, Johnson and Gordon returning Friday was an important first step for the rest of the Bears season — and for a defense that has given up 20 points or fewer in three of its last four games.“It was just great to get their feet wet,” coach Ben Johnson said Friday night. “I’ll be curious to see what that tape looks like. … I can’t wait to see how tight that coverage was. It’ll be a good stepping stone for us to build upon going forward.”

State Farm Stadium in Glendale was listed on Friday as a potential site for the 2031 Women's World Cup.

What fathers do for daughters.Getting up at the crack of dawn on Black Friday to chauffeur them and their friends to Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg. Then sitting on a bench, a planter and even sometimes the floor, watching bags and waiting patiently for their offspring’s return from various stores.Such was the day for Anup Parmar of West Chicago.“I am the driver. And the keeper,” he said, gesturing to several bags he was watching for his 14-year-old daughter and her friends.Why Woodfield, when there are other malls closer to where he lives?“My daughter is picky about her stores,” he said. Plus, he is familiar with the area because he works in Schaumburg.For more on this story, please visit DailyHerald.com.

The Phoenix Suns will head to Oklahoma City on Dec. 10 to play the Thunder in the quarterfinals of the 2025 NBA Cup after earning a wild card spot.

Several factors have contributed to Blackhawks forward Frank Nazar having a quieter November than October.The first is his health. He missed two games with what coach Jeff Blashill called a “mid-body” injury (likely hip-related), then played through the injury feeling less than 100% for a couple of weeks afterward.That was reflected in his skating data, which indicated he wasn’t reaching top speeds as frequently. Against the Wild on Wednesday, however, his body started feeling more normal.“[That game] was the best I’ve felt since being back,” Nazar said Friday. “I think we’ll be good moving forward.”The second factor is where he has been deployed. Blashill took Nazar off the top power-play unit for a while, and injuries to Tyler Bertuzzi and Andre Burakovsky pushed rookie Oliver Moore up to Nazar’s second-line wing spot during five-on-five play.Now Nazar is back on the top unit and has Bertuzzi and Teuvo Teravainen back as his regular linemates. Those three have built chemistry since the second half of last season and generally have been effective.During their ice time together this season, the Hawks have outscored opponents 7-4 and been outshot by a narrow 58-55 margin. During the rest of Nazar’s ice time, the Hawks have been outscored 9-5 and outshot 86-62.“[Teravainen and Bertuzzi] do a really good job of getting pucks in the right spots for Frankie,” Blashill said. “And when Frankie gets in those spots with speed, he’s really dangerous.”The third factor behind Nazar’s quieter November is his luck simply leveling off. In his first 10 games, he attempted 38 shots, 18 of which made it on goal and five of which went in — including memorable goals against the Blues and Ducks. But that 27.8% shooting percentage was obviously unsustainable.In his last 12 games, he has 52 shot attempts, 30 of which have made it on goal — higher per-game rates than before — but all have been saved. That included a 10-bell, game-saving stop by Avalanche goalie Scott Wedgewood in the final minute last Sunday, plus two more by Predators goalie Juuse Saros on Friday in the Hawks' fifth consecutive loss. Nazar’s shooting percentage has now fallen to a right-on-par 10.4%.“[In] the last few games, I’ve actually had a lot of great chances and grade-A shots,” he said. “I easily could’ve had a few.” Frank Nazar robbed by Wedgewood looking for the tying goal pic.twitter.com/zDg9JmuQ7B— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) November 24, 2025 The fourth factor? The grind of a full NHL season, which Nazar is immersed in for the first time, as easy as it is to forget. Ebbs and flows in confidence are inevitable. For example, Nazar said, the Hawks’ disastrous trip to Buffalo last week gave him a wake-up call about the careful prep needed for the second half of a back-to-back at this level. Blashill has given him two other points of advice, too.“When Frankie gets anxious to create offense, sometimes he almost gets ahead of it a little bit,” Blashill said. “He wants that puck [with] speed, but sometimes you have to slow yourself down, either to win a puck or be in a better support position. That’s a big thing.“And then . . . there are times when he could attack outside a little bit more. [He could] maybe not try to beat guys one-on-one, but [instead] use his speed to get guys on edge and then beat them one-on-one.”With 16 points in 22 games, Nazar is still on pace for about 58 points this season, which would represent nice career progress from his 26 last season. He also continues to have an unheralded impact on creating power plays. He has drawn 11 penalties and committed only four, leading the Hawks in penalty differential by a wide margin for a second straight season. Latest on the Blackhawks Blackhawks Blackhawks extend losing streak as Jeff Blashill calls for more mental toughness The Hawks’ 4-3 defeat against the struggling Predators on Friday was their fifth straight loss. Their confidence seems shaken. [month] [day], [year], [hour]:[minute][ampm] [timezone] By Ben Pope…