Bears hire Martz as offensive coordinator

Mike Martz, the headstrong coach who orchestrated "The Greatest Show on Turf" while molding Kurt Warner into a Pro Bowl quarterback with the St. Louis Rams, is the Chicago Bears' new offensive coordinator.

Martz's hiring Monday ended a nearly monthlong search to replace the fired Ron Turner. His job is to turn around a struggling offense and get the most out of Jay Cutler after the quarterback and team failed to meet high expectations this season.

Cutler threw a league-leading 26 interceptions after a blockbuster trade with Denver. The Bears went 7-9 and missed the playoffs for the third straight year since the 2006 team's Super Bowl run, leading to a coaching shake-up in which Turner and five other assistants were let go and coach Lovie Smith relinquished defensive play-calling duties.

The Bears still are looking for a defensive coordinator as well as a quarterbacks and tight ends coach, but they finally settled a big issue.

"Lovie was very clear at the beginning of the process that this was going to take time and he was going to go through it step by step," said Martz, who expressed interest early on. "That's always difficult, but he did it the right way - especially since I got the job."

Thomas returns to Chiefs coaching staff

Emmitt Thomas, a Hall of Fame cornerback for Kansas City's Super Bowl teams in the late 1960s, is returning to the Chiefs as defensive backs coach.

Thomas played cornerback for the Chiefs from 1966-78 and is still their all-time leader with 58 interceptions.

five-time Pro Bowler, Thomas was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2008. He spent the past eight years as an assistant coach with Atlanta. He was the Falcons' interim head coach for the final three games in 2007. Before that, he was defensive coordinator for Minnesota, Green Bay and Philadelphia.

The Chiefs also announced Monday that they have added Bernie Parmalee as tight ends coach, and Otis Smith as head of defensive quality control.

Novacek's wife found dead in home

The wife of former Dallas Cowboys tight end Jay Novacek has been found dead in a home.

Burleson spokeswoman Sally Ellertson says police in the Fort Worth suburb responded to a call of a possible suicide early Monday.

The Tarrant County medical examiner identified the woman as 45-year-old LeAnne Novacek, 45, whose home address was listed in the nearby town of Joshua.

Authorities haven't said how she died but are investigating.

Jay Novacek starred for the Cowboys in 1990-96 and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame last summer.

Pro Bowl's TV ratings increase after move

The Pro Bowl's new, earlier date resulted in more viewers tuning in to the NFL's all-star game.

Sunday's AFC-NFC matchup on ESPN was watched by an average of 12.3 million viewers, the most since 2000. That's up 40 percent from last year's Pro Bowl on NBC, which drew 8.8 million viewers when the event was held after the Super Bowl.

This season's game was in a later time slot, when more people watch TV. But it also had to compete against the Grammys on CBS, which attracted 25.8 million viewers, the most since 2004.