Ron Rivera said last week he had contact with a few teams about coaching jobs.
News broke Monday that Washington’s most recent head coach is indeed in pursuit of the defensive coordinator role for the Los Angeles Rams.
Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports reported Monday morning that Rivera had interviewed over the weekend for the position.
The Rams recently lost Raheem Morris when he was named Falcons head coach. Looking to fill the defensive coordinator position, the Rams have thus far interviewed Rivera, Ravens defensive backs coach Dennard Wilson, Cowboys defensive line coach Aden Durde and former Chargers head coach Brandon Staley.
Rivera was a linebacker for the Chicago Bears (1984-1992), including the 1985 Super Bowl championship team.
Five years after retiring as a player, Rivera launched his coaching career with the Bears, becoming the defensive quality control coach (1997-98) on Dave Wannstedt’s staff.
Next, it was on to Philadelphia, as Andy Reid became the Eagles head coach, hiring Rivera to his staff as the linebackers coach (1999-2003).
Lovie Smith became the Bears’ head coach in 2004 and hired Rivera as defensive coordinator (2004-06). Led by LB Brian Urlacher, the 2006 Bears won the NFC before losing to the Colts in the Super Bowl.
Norv Turner took over as Chargers head coach in 2007, and Rivera was hired to coach the linebackers before moving up to the defensive coordinator (2008-2010).
At age 49 in 2011, Rivera began a nine-year run as Carolina Panthers head coach. He had three winning seasons, including going 15-1 on the way to Super Bowl 50 in the 2015 season. But with only three winning seasons total, Rivera was fired during the 2019 season by then-new owner David Tepper.
Four losing seasons followed with Washington as head coach and head of player personnel.
Rivera has 13 years as head coach under his belt. Though only three were winning seasons, Rams HC Sean McVay may be considering that Rivera’s overall breadth of experience could be of value to the Rams staff.
