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From May 30 and every day until September 5… the start of the 2013 NFL season… Sports Stats ‘on Tapp’ will publish “99 Stats Until Kickoff” a daily dose of NFL stats that will get you ready for the 2013 NFL season.)

Although the Chicago Bears did not make the playoffs despite a 10-6 record, their defense played at a high level in 2012. The defensive unit was third in the league in points allowed and fifth in yards allowed.

In a new defensive stat, however, the Bears finished the 2012 regular season as the top-ranked defense. In the Stop Factor rankings, the Bears defense stopped their opponents from scoring on almost 74 percent of their possessions. That number ranked first in the league ahead of the Seattle Seahawks who stopped their opponents’ offense from scoring on 72.4 percent of their possessions.

(The Stop Factor is based on the premise that it is the defense’s job to stop their opponents from scoring on each possession. To get a team’s STOP Factor, you divide the number of times a defense stops the offense from scoring – offensive unit TD or field goal – by the number of total possessions by the opposition.)

Following is each NFL teams’ Stop Factor for the 2012 regular season. Listed is how many times each team stopped the opponents from scoring, the number of possessions their opponents had, and the percentage of possessions that each team prevented the other team from scoring.

Team, Opponents’ scoreless possessions/opponents’ possessions, Stop Factor percentage

1. Chicago 73.9 (139 stops in 188 possessions)
2. Seattle 72.4 (118 stops in 163 possessions)
3. Denver 71.3 (129 stops in 181 possessions)
4. San Francisco 70.8 (119 stops in 168 possessions)
5. Houston 70.5 (134 stops in 190 possessions)
6. Arizona 70.3 (135 stops in 192 possessions)
7. Cincinnati 69.1 (125 stops in 181 possessions)
8. New England 67.6 (123 stops in 182 possessions)
9. New York Jets 67.2 (121 stops in 180 possessions)
10. Pittsburgh 67.1 (114 stops in 170 possessions)
11. Cleveland 66.8 (123 stops in 184 possessions)
12. San Diego 66.5 (115 stops in 173 possessions)
13. Tampa Bay 65.9 (120 stops in 182 possessions)
14. Atlanta 65.9 (110 stops in 167 possessions)
15. Miami 65.7 (113 stops in 172 possessions)
16. Green Bay 64.8 (114 stops in 176 possessions)
17. Minnesota 64.0 (112 stops in 175 possessions)
18. Baltimore 64.0 (119 stops in 186 possessions)
19. St. Louis 63.2 (110 stops in 174 possessions)
20. New York Giants 61.7 (100 stops in 162 possessions
21. Washington 60.6 (106 stops in 175 possessions)
22. Indianapolis 58.9 (99 stops in 168 possessions)
23. Dallas 58.5 (96 stops in 164 possessions)
24. Detroit 58.4 (104 stops in 178 possessions)
25. Tennessee 58.3 (105 stops in 180 possessions)
26. Buffalo 58.2 (99 stops in 170 possessions)
27. New Orleans 58.0 (105 stops in 181 possessions)
28. Philadelphia 57.7 (97 stops in 168 possessions)
29. Carolina 57.4 (93 stops in 162 possessions)
30. Jacksonville 56.8 (100 stops in 176 possessions)
31. Kansas City 56.2 (91 stops in 162 possessions)
32. Oakland 55.2 (95 stops in 172 possessions)

Average league Stop Factor: 64.0

“99 Stats Before Kickoff” (Stats you need to know before the start of the 2013 NFL season) is available from e-book publisher Smashwords. Go to www.smashwords.com to download a copy, including a pdf version which can be viewed on your home computer. Cost is $2.99.