![]() Rivera in 2022 | |||||||||
No. 59 | |||||||||
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Position: | Linebacker | ||||||||
Personal information | |||||||||
Born: | Fort Ord, California, U.S. | January 7, 1962||||||||
Height: | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | ||||||||
Weight: | 235 lb (107 kg) | ||||||||
Career information | |||||||||
High school: | Seaside (Seaside, California) | ||||||||
College: | California (1980–1983) | ||||||||
NFL draft: | 1984 / Round: 2 / Pick: 44 | ||||||||
Career history | |||||||||
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As a coach: | |||||||||
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Career highlights and awards | |||||||||
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Career NFL statistics | |||||||||
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Head coaching record | |||||||||
Regular season: | 102–103–2 (.498) | ||||||||
Postseason: | 3–5 (.375) | ||||||||
Career: | 105–108–2 (.493) | ||||||||
Player stats at PFR | |||||||||
Coaching stats at PFR | |||||||||
Executive profile at PFR |
Ronald Eugene Rivera (born January 7, 1962) is an American former football linebacker and coach. He was a college football All-American linebacker for the California Golden Bears before being drafted by the Chicago Bears in the second round of the 1984 NFL draft. Rivera played nine seasons with the Bears and was a member of the 1985 team that won Super Bowl XX.
Rivera's coaching career began in 1997 when he served as a quality control coach for the Bears. Rivera joined the Philadelphia Eagles as a linebackers coach two years later before rejoining the Bears as their defensive coordinator in 2004. The following year, he was named Assistant Coach of the Year by the PFWA and helped coach linebacker Brian Urlacher into being named Defensive Player of the Year. In 2006, the Bears made an appearance in Super Bowl XLI. In 2007, he joined the San Diego Chargers coaching linebackers before being promoted to defensive coordinator a year later.
After three years with the Chargers, Rivera was hired as head coach for the Carolina Panthers and would become their all-time leader in wins. He was also recognized as the NFL Coach of the Year in 2013 and 2015 and led the team to an appearance in Super Bowl 50. Rivera was fired near the end of the 2019 season due to new owner David Tepper wanting change and became Washington's head coach in 2020. He was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma that same year but was considered cancer free by early 2021. Rivera is the only coach in NFL history to have led a team with a losing record to the playoffs more than once, doing so with Carolina in 2014 and Washington in 2020. He was fired by Washington after the 2023 season and joined ESPN as an analyst.
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