Do you know what type of grass it is (fescue, KBG)?
Grab a handful in a couple places and see if it pulls up off the soil easily.

When you say it looks dead at the top part but looks great at the bottom part, are you talking about the plant itself (i.e. at the crown it looks green), or are you referring to the devil's strip looking good compared to the rest of the lawn in your picture?

Not sure what type of grass it is but I am the original owner of it. It was laid as sod 6 years ago. I'm in IL so I think there is only 1 type of sod in these parts but I could be wrong.

When I pulled the weeds up the other day, I was able to literally pull the entire weed with the 4 in root with ease. It almost seemed like there was no dirt below the grass - if that makes sense.

When I said the top part I meant the part before the sidewalk. If you see in the pic, below the sidewalk, the grass is green besides that one spot to the right which is exhibiting the same behavior as the top portion. The devil for sure has taken over my grass :)

Here is another close up pic of the grass. You'll see it looks like straw almost. I also can see some plugs/holes but I assume that is from when I got the grass aerated.

There are a handful of lawns in the neighborhood that look like mine - a handful of more than 150.

Thanks.

Sod in our part of the country is usually KBG or contains a large % of KBG.
KBG can survive substantial periods of drought by going dormant. As long as the crown stays alive, the turf can recover. The crown is the part just above the root from which the grass blades grow. If the crowns are still alive, the turf will come out of dormancy when enough moisture is present. One dose of water seldom brings KBG out of dormancy, somehow KBG turf plant biology restarts growth when the biology process determines reliable moisture supply has returned.
My question regarding how easy the turf pulled up was not a test of the soil, so the fact that you can pull up weeds easily is not significant. I asked the question to determine/eliminat whether there could be an insect problem--grubs.
This has been a tough year (drought and heat) for turf and there is a very good chance yor lawn has not survived.
Despite implementing high maintenance procedures, I have lost nearly 10% of my lawn this year.

You shouldn't fertilize during a drought. Chemical fertilizers are salts and dehydrate grass.

Not saying this is the cause of your problems.

I think either the grass died from dehydration or grubs or a combination of the two. Maybe you had a severe fungal problem. Not likely, but possible. Give it some water and see if it returns. If not you'll have to start from scratch.

Thanks grass. I think you're right on. Sorry to hear about your lawn too. We've had plenty of water over the past few weeks and I can tell for certain that it had zero impact on the grass. This is why I stopped watering a few weeks ago too since it wasn't making a difference. How can I tell if I have grubs? And then based on what we know, how do I fix it? Wondering if I have to start from scratch? I can see from other lawns patches of brown spots but those spots look nothing like my lawn. Darn.

To check for grub damage, see if the truf will pull easily off the soil. Grab a handfull of grass and see if it will pull off like a toupee off a bald man's head. If it does then dig up the soil and look for live grubs. There are a number of insecticides that can be applied that will kill off grubs, but many of them are only effective when applied at certain times of the year/life cycle of the grub. As we approach the end of the growing season, grubs should not be an issue again until next year.
Starting from scratch is a realitive term. As you are in Chi-town area, the next few weeks are the time to plant grass. As so little appears left, you might as well use Roundup to kill off any weeds and the small amount of existing grass. Scalp the lawn by bag mowing. You should remove any lose plant matter that is covering the soil to reveal bare soil for seed to soil contact. This can be done by hand raking or power raking then leaf raking the debree up. You do NOT need to remove the dead grass "stumps" or roots. Do not till, if you rent a fixed blade power rake you can lower it to cut into the soil to loosen the top layer if you so desire. A fixed blade can also be used to slitseed. Then reseed using accepted/recommended practices.

Perfect. I'll repost soon with more info.

What is your watering schedule? How often and how long? And have you changed it since April?

When did you put down steps 1 and 2?

At the risk of going off topic, that tree needs help, too. Pull all that mulch away from the trunk of the tree or the trunk will get a fungal disease that kills the tree. It won't happen all in one year - it's insidious. But it will happen. You should be able to see the base of the tree where the roots flare out to the sides. If you insist on keeping mulch around it, you can make a volcano cone so the base of the tree is exposed.

Step 1 was thrown down around mid March and Step 2 was mid June. I still haven't thrown down 3 or 4. Over the past 2 weeks we received several rainfalls. The lawn looks the exact same believe it or not. Absolutely no change. When I attempt to pull any amount up, it doesn't pull up easily. Would that mean no grub damage? It appears that the part near the tree is now suffering the same damage since no rain helped that area. My next door neighbors lawns look green as can be.

Are there any active ingredients in Step 3/4 that will help the lawn? Or any product for that matter? I don't mind starting over, just need a little more direction. Is sod easier, albeit more expensive?

Thanks.

So I'll be starting completely over. I received a quote for completely digging up the yard, grading the soil, seeding and applying a DS-75 erosion blanket.

Question is do I do it now or wait until Spring when daylight and warmer temperatures on our my side. The sunsets at 7:00 and rises around 6:30 I think. Watering in the dark seems like it would be the norm if I get the work done now.

Thanks.

You are between a rock and a hard place. It's a bit late in the season to be starting from seed, but planting in the Spring has a multitude of problems--weeds is the big one, but washouts from all the showers is another. I'd want to know what killed it off in the first place too, but at this stage I doubt that can be determined. Maybe one of the others here can help with that and advice on which avenue to take. Re-sodding may be your best option.

True grass. When the owner from the landscaping company came out, he too said it could have been a multitude of events that killed it. Heat, lack of rain for 6 weeks, no shade, perhaps not proper grading when sod was originally laid 6 years ago.

Our area dipped to a low of 38 degrees a few nights ago. I think I read in this forum the soil temp has to stay above 45 for seed to germinate.

Thanks.