[CBFF] Ron Rivera moves on to help Chargers

[Steve Behrens]

My opinion?  They didn't want to spend the bucks on Chico when they know
they have to spend big bucks on Lovie.

I know a lot of you would disagree, but that's my story and I'm sticking to
it.... unless facts to the contrary come along to change my mind.

-Behr


On 2/20/07, Jerry Madsen <jerrywm at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I don't think we'll ever know the real reason Chico was cut loose.
>
> On 2/20/07, mactbone <mactbone0 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> > http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070220/ap_on_sp_fo_ne/fbn_bears_rivera_4
> >
> > By RICK GANO, AP Sports Writer Mon Feb 19, 11:07 PM ET
> > LAKE FOREST, Ill. - Chicago defensive coordinator Ron Rivera was out of
> a job, but not for long. Just hours after the Bears announced Monday he
> wouldn't be retained, the San Diego Chargers gave him a two-year contract to
> coach their linebackers.
> >
> > Rivera, who has talked with eight NFL teams about their head coaching
> positions over the last two seasons, had a three-year contract with the
> Bears that was set to expire next week.
> >
> > After it was announced he wouldn't be coming back to the Bears, Rivera
> vowed he would land another job.
> >
> > And he did, getting a deal to join new Chargers coach Norv Turner.
> Rivera had just interviewed for San Diego's head coaching job last weekend.
> >
> > "It's just time to move on again, so I will move on and I will prosper.
> I will bounce back. I will get an opportunity," Rivera said during a
> conference call before his Chargers' job was announced.
> >
> > But the decision by Bears coach Lovie Smith not to keep Rivera came as a
> surprise to many, especially the timing — a little more than two weeks since
> the Bears lost the Super Bowl. Rivera said he never started talks on a new
> contract with Chicago.
> >
> > "It's just something that Coach decided he was going to shuffle his
> staff and we'll go from there," Rivera said.
> >
> > Rivera said he wanted to return and was told a few days ago he wouldn't.
> >
> > Was there a personality conflict with Smith?
> >
> > "No, no, no, no, please. I don't think there is. I really don't," he
> said.
> >
> > "I believe this is just a football decision and it was made.
> Emotionally, I'm disappointed in not getting the opportunity to come back in
> '07 because as I said at the end of the year after the loss that this is a
> football team that's headed in the right direction."
> >
> > Smith, a defensive-oriented coach, insisted there no philosophical
> differences with Rivera.
> >
> > "As much as anything, it's just a fit that we have and right now the
> direction I would like to go and the direction that Ron would like to go,
> we're going in two different directions," Smith said during a conference
> call.
> >
> > "It's been my goal all along to help Ron, to do everything I could to
> get Ron an opportunity to get a head football coaching job and it's no more
> than that. We've tried to do that. Ron had a contract. I don't see it as a
> firing or anything like that. His contract expired and he wants to go in one
> direction, and I'd like to go in one. No more than that."
> >
> > Rivera was a linebacker on Chicago's Super Bowl champion team in 1986
> and then led a defense that helped the Bears make the playoffs in
> back-to-back seasons. Chicago had trouble containing Indianapolis in the
> Super Bowl, losing 29-17 to the Peyton Manning-led Indianapolis Colts.
> >
> > Rivera has been an assistant coach for 10 years in the NFL beginning as
> a quality control coach with the Bears in 1997. He spent five years with the
> Philadelphia Eagles as their linebackers coach and the last three in charge
> of Chicago's defense.
> >
> > The Bears led the NFL with 44 takeaways in the regular season, but the
> defense was slowed in the latter stages of the season after injuries to
> defensive tackle Tommie Harris and safety Mike Brown.
> > Smith didn't elaborate when asked if there were things about Rivera's
> performance he did not like.
> > "Those are the things Ron and I talked about," Smith said. "We feel good
> about the things we did together during that time, but no more needs to be
> said about that. That's between he and I."
> >
> > Rivera was a candidate last season for head coaching jobs in Green Bay
> and St. Louis. This year he talked with Pittsburgh, Miami, Atlanta and
> Arizona before the Bears started postseason play. After Chicago lost the
> Super Bowl, he interviewed for coaching vacancies at Dallas and with the
> Chargers.
> > Smith, who has a year left on his contract and could be in line for an
> extension, said he would move quickly to replace Rivera. Linebackers coach
> Bob Babich is considered a top candidate.
> >
> >
> >
> >
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>
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