When Ron Rivera was breaking down videotape as an unpaid volunteer assistant coach for the Bears in 1997, thoughts of days like Friday helped sustain him.
“It was a lousy job,” Rivera recalled.
It was a good break.
Rivera toiled two seasons as the Bears’ defensive quality-control coach, eventually landing on the bottom of the payroll before he took advantage of an opportunity in 1999 to join the staff of the Philadelphia Eagles as linebackers coach.
On the day Rivera left Halas Hall for Philadelphia, he promised Bears officials he would see them later in his career.
Later was Friday.
“I told several people I would get an opportunity to come back here, and [Bears President] Ted Phillips reminded me of that today. . . . It has come full circle,” Rivera said after being named the Bears’ new defensive coordinator. “It all started here.”
Rivera felt more of a connection with the Bears than with the Jets, with whom he interviewed Thursday, and signed a three-year contract worth $400,000 a season, according to a league source. He joins offensive coordinator Terry Shea as the second major hire coach Lovie Smith has made since taking over Jan. 15. The Bears’ staff now is led by three coaches who are unproven in their current jobs.
That inexperience shouldn’t lower anybody’s expectations in Chicago, Smith maintained.
“My glass is always half-full,” Smith said. “Whenever a new guy comes in, there’s a learning curve. But I don’t think it’s a rebuilding stage we’re in. We expect to contend quickly.”
Rivera spoke with similar boldness, establishing the 1985 Bears’ defense for which he played as the standard and invoking the name of Buddy Ryan and the “46” scheme. The Bears figure to rely heavily on stunts and blitzes and find more ways to get to the quarterback than this past season’s defense that ranked last in the NFL in sacks per pass attempt.
“You have to say, `Look, maybe we have to blitz or run a few more line stunts–[pass] rush and coverage go hand in hand,” said Rivera, 42.
He comes from an Eagles staff that has devised attacking defenses ranking among league leaders in sacks (189), takeaways (128) and scoring defense (15.3 points per game) over the last three seasons.
Elements of Smith’s signature “Cover-2” scheme and Ryan’s “46” defense, familiar to Bears fans older than 21, will be obvious in Rivera’s system. Smith will lend his expertise and Rivera, who will call the defenses, will incorporate a little from all of his defensive influences into Bears’ game plans.
The only thing he guarantees is increased aggressiveness, and Titans coach and former Rivera teammate Jeff Fisher predicts it won’t be long before the Bears’ defense looks familiar–no matter the scheme.
“Philly’s scheme is widely respected around the league as a pressure and attacking defense, and I know [Rivera] will blend his style with Lovie and make the defense of old come back to life in Chicago,” Fisher said.
It should ease Rivera’s transition that the Bears have players like linebacker Brian Urlacher, free safety Mike Brown, cornerback Charles Tillman and the core of their defense locked up with long-term contracts. Rivera noted the Bears’ “quality, young defensive linemen,” praised the linebacker corps and sounded excited about the depth of a secondary Tillman and Brown lead.
Secondary coach Vance Bedford is expected to return to coach Bears defensive backs, Rivera revealed, though Smith said the appointment is not yet official.
The Bears did announce the hiring of defensive quality-control coach Lloyd Lee, a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ pro personnel department, and offensive quality-control coach Mike Bajakian. Bajakian most recently was the quarterbacks coach at Central Michigan and was once a graduate assistant under Shea at Rutgers.
Smith wants to have the rest of the staff in place by Feb. 1 and expects the process to move quicker now that both coordinators have been named.
“We’re pretty excited around here,” Smith said.
That showed in Rivera, obviously comfortable back where he spent his entire nine-year NFL career. Asked the most important thing he could bring to the Bears from the Eagles’ defense he coached the past five seasons, Rivera cracked, “Me.”
Rivera seems more likely to incorporate that sense of humor into his coaching than a sense of nostalgia.
“I’m not going to sit around and tell stories [about the ’85 Bears], that’s not my job,” Rivera said. “My job is to get them to play Bear football.”
He realizes a big part of that job will be restoring the meaning behind that label.
“I think it is important, yeah, and you need guys around here who know what it takes and what it means to be a Chicago Bear . . . ” Rivera said. “It’s a great opportunity and honor to get a chance in Chicago. There are high expectations, and that’s good. Because it forces coaches and players to live up to high standards.”
