SAN JOSE, Calif. — Thirty years ago, ‘Da Bears rocked the NFL.
The Super Bowl Shuffle, Jim McMahon’s headband and William “The Refrigerator” Perry’s titanic touchdowns made Chicago America’s team.
Also on that 1985 Bears squad that finished 18-1 and smashed New England 46-10 in Super Bowl XX was a no-nonsense linebacker named Ron Rivera, or “Chico” to his teammates.
Now Rivera is the boss of the Carolina Panthers, who are six-point favorites to beat the Broncos Sunday in Super Bowl 50. Like the legendary Bears, the Panthers are loaded with effervescent personalities, none more bubbly than quarterback Cam Newton.
Rivera, 53, earned his coaching stripes as an X’s and O’s defensive guy, but his genius this season has been his ability to keep the Panthers focused, even as they party in the end zone and flash their bling leading up to Sunday’s game.
“For the most part, it’s about asking them to keep their personality,” Rivera said Tuesday. “Don’t be more. Don’t be less. By that, what I mean is, don’t shy away from the opportunities, but at the same time let’s not go beyond that. They’ve been really good about that and there is that fine line.”
Veteran defensive end Jared Allen says Rivera has created an atmosphere unique in professional sports.
“That’s another rarity we have,” Allen said. “Coach Rivera provides an atmosphere that is very honest. He wants your best, but he allows guys to be themselves and have their personalities in the system.
“We are about fundamentals and doing the right things through preparation, but at the same time he encourages guys to have fun. I think he understands from being a player that guys are playing their best when they are out having fun.”
Newton, however, says too much has been made of the Panthers’ touchdown dances and in-your-face swagger. What counts, he said, is the discipline Rivera has instilled.
“A lot of people get detoured or forget the true meaning of football,” Newton said. “The average NFL play is only run from four to six seconds, and in that four to six seconds, you can pretty much be who you are or (you can) listen to coaching and make sure you play out the exact things that you’ve been coached to do. Everything after that is just kind of fluff.”
Rivera, drafted in 1984, played nine seasons, all with the Bears, and had Mike Ditka as his coach and mentor. Ditka is a member of an exclusive fraternity, but on Sunday, Rivera could join his old coach. Ditka, Tom Flores and Tony Dungy are the only men who were part of a Super Bowl-winning team as a player and also as head coaches.
Rivera clearly has evolved as a coach. In 1993, he took a job as an analyst for WGN-TV in Chicago. It wasn’t until 1997 that Rivera began his current path as the defense quality-control coach for the Bears. It took him eight failed interviews for NFL head coaching jobs before he finally landed the Carolina job in 2011. Then he came very close to losing it.
The Panthers went 6-10 and 7-9 in Rivera’s first two seasons, and when they began the 2013 season 1-3, there was a drumbeat that he should be fired. A Charlotte Observer online poll conducted in September 2013 showed 80 percent of the respondents wanting him fired.
But Rivera survived and he changed. He began listening to this gut..
In the third week of the 2013 season, the Panthers (0-2) kicked a field goal on a fourth-and-1 play that allowed the Buffalo Bills to rally for a last-second victory.
“I was thinking conservatively and I’ll never do that again,” Rivera later told his brother, Steven Rivera. “I go by instinct now.”
The next week, a bolder Rivera took command in the Panthers’ game against the New York Giants. In the first quarter of a scoreless tie, Carolina went for it on fourth down from the Giants’ 2-yard line. The Panthers scored a touchdown and went on to a 38-0 victory. Rivera’s team gambled 11 more times on fourth-down plays after that. Carolina converted eight times as Rivera ended the season as The Associated Press’ coach of the year.
Suddenly, Rivera was dubbed “Riverboat Ron.” He initially shied away from the moniker, preferring to call his gambles “calculated risks.” But now Rivera is all in. His Twitter handle is @RiverboatRonHC.
Now he has the Panthers four quarters away from hoisting the Lombardi Trophy.
“You only get so many chances,” he said. “When I played, we were the youngest team to win a Super Bowl and a lot of people thought, ‘They’ll get a chance to come back.’ Well, we never made it back. I’m trying to make sure our guys understand that this could be a once-in-a-lifetime chance and we have to take advantage of that now.”
Patrick Saunders: psaunders@denverpost.com or @psaundersdp
Rivera’s coaching road
Year Position Team
1997-98 Defensive quality control Chicago Bears
1999-2003 Linebackers Philadelphia Eagles
2004-06 Defensive coordinator Bears
2007-08 Inside linebackers San Diego Chargers
2008-10 Defensive coordinator Chargers
2011-current Head coach Carolina Panthers
