From 1985 Super Bowl champion to veteran NFL head coach, Ron Rivera joins six legendary icons in the 2026 class of the Hispanic Football Hall of Fame.
The Chicago Bears have one Super Bowl win in the long and storied history of their franchise.
They won the Super Bowl in 1985, beating the New England Patriots 46-10. That team had some legends, featuring running back Walter Payton, quarterback Jim McMahon, and Steve McMichael.
Another player who was on that team was linebacker Ron Rivera. In just his second year in the league, Rivera won a Super Bowl ring with the Bears.
He played for the Bears from 1984-1992, and never played for another team.
On Monday, it was announced by the Bears that Rivera was going to be inducted into the Hispanic Football Hall of Fame.
He is one of seven people being inducted this year, joining Tom Fears, Steve Van Buren, Tom Flores, Jim Plunkett, Anthony Munoz and Ted Hendricks.
After his playing days, he went into coaching.
He got his job in the NFL as a Defensive Quality Control Coach with the Bears from 1997-98. Rivera spent time as an assistant coach with the Philadelphia Eagles (1999-2003) before returning to the Bears as a defensive coordinator in 2004.
Rivera held an assistant role with the San Diego Chargers before getting his first head coaching gig in 2011 with the Carolina Panthers. He got to work with Cam Newton for many years with the Panthers, taking the team to the playoffs four times, including a trip to the Super Bowl in the 2015 season.
Rivera was fired halfway through the 2019 season, but then was hired by the Washington Commanders as head coach in 2020.
He even went to the playoffs in his first season, but lost in the Wild Card to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Unfortunately, he never had a winning season with Washington and was fired after the 2023 campaign.
Rivera has gone back to the college ranks after spending many years in the NFL. He is now the General Manager of Cal's college football program, where he played college football. Rivera hired new head coach Tosh Lupui in December of 2025.
The Bears have a lot of history in the NFL, and it's great to see a former player like Rivera get honored by the franchise.
The legacy of one Bears Hall of Famer will be honored in 2026. Brian Urlacher's No. 54 jersey is going to be worn by rookie center Logan Jones.
Having one of the oldest franchises in the NFL has its perks, and Rivera is just one of the great players to have come through the Windy City.