Before Ron Rivera took over as the head coach of the Carolina Panthers, he had two stints as a defensive coordinator. The former NFL linebacker was the defensive coordinator for the Chicago Bears for three seasons (2004-06) and the then-San Diego Chargers for 3.5 seasons (2007-10).
Of course, Rivera, in his fourth and, perhaps final season as the head coach of the Washington Commanders, assumed the role of interim defensive coordinator over the last five games this season after firing defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio on Friday.
Rivera’s first test as Washington’s defensive play-caller will be a difficult one. The Commanders have a few extra days off because they played on Thursday, but when Washington reports to work next week, they’ll be preparing for the high-octane Miami Dolphins.
Good luck.
In preparation for Rivera’s return to defensive coordinator, we went back in history to see how he fared during his seven seasons as a coordinator.
- 2004: No. 12 total defense, No. 13 scoring defense
- 2005: No. 2 total defense, No. 1 scoring defense
- 2006: No. 5 total defense, No. 3 scoring defense
- 2007: No. 14 total defense, No. 5 scoring defense (DC for part of the season after Chargers fired Ted Cottrell)
- 2008: No. 25 total defense, No. 15 scoring defense
- 2009: No. 16 total defense, No. 11 scoring defense
- 2010: No. 1 total defense, No. 10 scoring defense
These are some good results from Rivera’s time as a coordinator. He obviously had more talent during his three seasons with the Bears. Rivera worked under Lovie Smith for those three seasons, and Chicago ran the “Tampa-2” defense.
In San Diego, the defense continually improved under Rivera.
Any of these numbers would be welcomed in Washington right now.
