Bears not renewing Rivera's contract!

[Brando19]

FOXSports.com has learned that Chicago has decided to not renew the contract of defensive coordinator Ron Rivera. Team sources say that Smith and Rivera met recently and agreed to allow Rivera to pursue other opportunities. The sources also contend that Smith will likely end up promoting Bob Babich from linebackers coach to defensive coordinator.
People inside the Bears saw this coming for a while as Babich has been reached out to from a handful of teams in the last two off-seasons and Smith, who unlike many other coaches does not block his assistants from moving up, did not want to lose him. Thus, the head coach had a tough decision to make and promoting Babich was his choice.

Babich is also viewed as more of a long-term option for Smith as Rivera was in the running for several head coaching jobs this off-season and last year. To this point, however, he has failed to land one. He did not sign an extension last off-season, which allowed him to be a free agent after the Bears' Super Bowl run. Most teams figured he'd get one of the vacant head coaching openings and as a result has been left out in the cold.

As for a defensive coordinator opening, there's only one open right now and that is Ted Cottrell's for the taking in San Diego. Still, now that Rivera is officially free another team may decide to make a run at a man who helped guide a unit to this year's prized game.

Rivera has been with Smith since he took over the head coaching duties in Chicago.

[cpk1994]

Boy, Lovie Smith has to be the biggest idiot out there. As of right now there are no openings ealsewhere. Lovie really screwed himself over. Not that there is anything wrong with that.

[Brando19]

Boy, Lovie Smith has to be the biggest idiot out there. As of right now there are no openings ealsewhere. Lovie really screwed himself over. Not that there is anything wrong with that.

I wish the Packers would grab him!

[MJZiggy]

How stupid can you get? Wonder where Rivera's gonna end up, cause we know he's not gonna be on the beach for very long...

[Charles Woodson]

Boy, Lovie Smith has to be the biggest idiot out there. As of right now there are no openings ealsewhere. Lovie really screwed himself over. Not that there is anything wrong with that.

I wish the Packers would grab him!

Could he run what we run right now?

I mean the best thing for rivera is to screw over the team that let him go

[Partial]

I don't think Smith is an idiot. Rivera probably asked him not to renew it.

[HarveyWallbangers]

Not that anybody cares, but Babich used to coach North Dakota State.

[packers11]

all the bear fans are fair weathering... of course now they are all so happy he is gone... they make me sick... one week they praise the d, and how he is the best d coordinator in the league, the next (when he leaves) they all march around because they think they can find a better one...

[BF4MVP]

Would he come across the border? That would be amazing..

[red]

i can't figure out what the hell the bears are trying to do

i was shocked to just here that they just let him go, he didn't get a better job somewhere, they just let him go

i'll start the conspiracy talk. the bears are jerking around lovie over a new contract, and it sounds like the bears players are getting pretty pissed about it. PFT said sources are saying some players might go so far as to tell free agents not to come to chicago because of the way they handle their own. lovie was offered a low ball contract a week or two ago and turned it down.

this could be the start of him getting his people out of there before he leaves. kind of a get out while you can type of move. or maybe rivera was just fed up with the way things are handled

people laughed when i brought up the idea that the bears might not make the playoffs next year, well they're on very fragile ground right now, and IMO the whole thing could implode at any time

[KYPack]

The Bears are pretty screwed up.

They have offered Lovie a low ball contract, now they are gonna let Rivera walk?

That's pretty lame. I hope they unravel right in front of us and wind up winning like 3 games next year.

[Patler]

This might be all Rivera's doing. He may have simply told them he was not interested in returning. Thus, no contract offer is being made.

[VegasPackFan]

It would be foolish for us to pick him up because more than likely, he will end up a HC no later than next offseason. We need some kind of stability on that D side of the ball.

The second point, though is the predictable arrogance of the bears org. They think they went to the SB just because they are Da Bears. It wasnt the coaches or the players or anything else. They are the Da Bears. Everyone should be thankful they just got to be a part of it i guess.

Remember what happened after '85? Buddy Ryan - they didnt need him either. They thought they had a dynasty.

[ND72]

Heard on ESPNradio on the drive home that he already is flying out to Cali to meet with Norv Turner...Turner told both Jerry Jones, and the Chargers GM, he wants Rivera to be his DC.

[Brando19]

Heard on ESPNradio on the drive home that he already is flying out to Cali to meet with Norv Turner...Turner told both Jerry Jones, and the Chargers GM, he wants Rivera to be his DC.

The San Diego Chargers have officially announced hiring Ted Cottrell as the team's new defensive coordinator.