Rozner: Panthers' Rivera will learn from his, Bears' mistakes

Coming off his first Super Bowl appearance as a head coach, Ron Rivera is not likely to make the same mistake he has seen others make at this moment.

Grounded and stable, and lacking the egomaniacal nature of so many in the game, Rivera won't succumb to the temptation of believing he invented football.

Unlike the man he worked for in Chicago as the defensive coordinator on a team that reached the Super Bowl because of - wait for it - the defense, Rivera will not go all Lovie Smith on everyone, feeling threatened by those who are competent.

If Rivera makes a change, it won't be a result of feeling one of his coaches wants his job.

Smith was feeling all powerful nine years ago when Bears ownership let him fire Rivera in a power play just two weeks after the Bears lost Super Bowl XLI.

"You should trust me as a head football coach to put us in the best position to win football games," Smith said in 2007, dismissing all questions and concerns. "It's as simple as that."

Smith placed friend Bob Babich in the job, only to demote him a couple of years later. The Bears never made it back to the Super Bowl, Smith has since been fired twice, and Rivera is now where Smith was then, trying to figure out how to get back to the Super Bowl.

It's not shocking then that Rivera spent the last two weeks thanking so many of the people who helped him along the way, and Smith was not usually in that conversation.

In fact, Rivera went out of his way to thank his friends from San Diego, where he landed as linebackers coach after being fired in Chicago. He later became the Chargers' defensive coordinator before getting the head-coaching job in Carolina.

"A lot of it has to do with being in San Diego and getting a chance to work with Norv Turner," Rivera said, praising the Chargers' former head coach. "I worked with the Spanos family and I really do appreciate that opportunity and the learning experience being there."

No mention, naturally, of the McCaskey family.

"Every now and then you do need to take a step back," Rivera said. "It gives you a chance to refocus and re-evaluate, more than anything else."

Rivera had to re-examine his place in the game after he had done the job so well in Chicago and been rewarded with a pink slip.

Turner actually beat out Rivera for the head-coaching job in San Diego, but rather than feel threatened by Rivera, he embraced Rivera and gave him more responsibility each year.

"When you have a guy who's gone through what Coach Turner has gone through, and he's there to mentor you and give you advice, it was great for me," Rivera said. "I think it was probably the right time in my career to have a guy like him, a guy who really trusted me and gave me a lot of freedom to grow as a coach.

"He really supported me and really helped me throughout that difficult period. I think it was really about learning and getting the opportunity to learn, more than anything else."

If you've been listening closely the past few weeks, Rivera has made several references to his time coaching without mentioning a Bears organization that abandoned him when Smith was feeling his oats.

"The other thing that helped me was having a really solid group of coaches, one of whom (Steve Wilks) is with me here now in Charlotte," Rivera said. "We have a good group of coaches and a good group of players and a great organization here with the Panthers, just like we had in San Diego.

"It doesn't work without that. It's a really good situation for me, and I'm lucky to be a part of something like this."

Ron Rivera won't forget the mistakes of the past, including those of which he's been a victim.

And it seems rather unlikely that he'll repeat them.

brozner@dailyherald.com

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