Denver’s Gary Kubiak and Carolina’s Ron Rivera are NFL coaching survivors.
The former players and assistant coaches, who reached the Super Bowl in their previous football lives, will cross paths when they take the field Sunday as head coaches in Super Bowl 50.
Kubiak suffered a mini-stroke while working the sidelines as the head coach of the Houston Texans in a game against the Colts in 2013. He later was fired.
He resurrected his career after serving as Baltimore’s offensive coordinator for a season and has the Broncos on the verge of their third Super Bowl victory.
After the medical scare, he missed one game and worked from the press box for a few weeks before returning to the sidelines.
“(I) kind of ran myself into the ground a little bit,” Kubiak said.
Rivera, who played for the Chicago Bears, was a longtime assistant coach before landing the Carolina job. Over the years, he had interviewed eight times for head coaching positions.
After Rivera got off to a slow start with the Panthers, he nearly was fired. After records of 6-10 and 7-9, the Panthers started 2013 with a 1-3 mark.
The Panthers’ rallied to finish 12-4 that season and won the first of an unprecedented three consecutive NFC South titles.
Carolina owner Jerry Richardson’s patience has paid off with this Super Bowl 50 appearance.
