Ron Rivera is looking to make some history at Super Bowl 50. (Getty)
Ron Rivera was already part of one 18-1 Super Bowl-winning squad, and now he’s looking to repeat that accomplishment, only this time as a head coach.
A star linebacker who was drafted out of the University of California by the Chicago Bears in 1984, Rivera was a part of that historic ’85 team, which lost just one game, won its three playoff games by a combined scored of 91-10 (including a 46-10 drubbing of the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XX) and is widely considered as the greatest team of all-time.
Thirty years later, he has a chance to join a rare group of people who have won a Super Bowl both as a player and as a head coach. Here’s the shortlist:
Tom Flores: won Super Bowl IV as a player (Kansas City Chiefs), Super Bowl XI as an assistant coach (Oakland Raiders) and Super Bowls XV and XVIII as a head coach (Oakland Raiders, Los Angeles Raiders)
Mike Ditka: won Super Bowl VI as a player (Dallas Cowboys), Super Bowl XII as an assistant coach (Dallas Cowboys) and Super Bowl XX as a head coach (Chicago Bears)
Tony Dungy: won Super Bowl XIII as a player (Pittsburgh Steelers) and Super Bowl XLI as a head coach (Indianapolis Colts)
Note: Flores didn’t actually play in Super Bowl IV. Forrest Gregg, Dan Reeves, Sam Wyche and now Gary Kubiak have both played and been the head coach in a Super Bowl
Rivera has strong connections to two of those men.
He played his entire nine-year NFL career under Ditka, and he’ll be using his memories of that Super Bowl-winning squad to prepare with Carolina this week.
“One of the things Coach Ditka emphasized to us was to enjoy the moment,” said Rivera. “The moment doesn’t come very often. It’s hard. It’s hard to get to where we are right now.”
Then there’s Flores, who became the first minority head coach to win a Super Bowl. Rivera would be the second.
Spent some time w/one of my heroes #CoachFlores at the #GeneUpshawGolf tournament #cancerresearch http://t.co/SHi2xKVej8
“He has a lot of strengths as a coach, but I’m proud of the fact that Ron’s never changed,” said Flores. “You can’t be somebody else. You’ve got to be yourself and stick to what you believe in. Ron’s done that.”
Simply getting to Santa Clara has firmly entrenched Rivera into the record books. A win, though, would put him in rarefied air.