When it comes to the Chicago Bears, decades and decades have gone past without a franchise quarterback. The jury is still out on Caleb Williams’ rookie season this past season. When it comes to head coaches, the Bears have had a list of clunkers since the team fired Mike Ditka in 1993. The Bears have been looking for a solid coach since they fired Lovie Smith in 2012. He led the Bears to a Superbowl loss in 2006, the last time they made it to the big game. We know with Ditka the Bears won their only Superbowl in 1986. We know before Ditka, Papa George Halas was a legendary head coach in Chicago for decades. The Bears have not figured out a way to find a head coach better than Smith. Many will say the Bears have not found a better replacement than Da Coach. In between Ditka and Smith, the Bears did find success. It was 2001 when the Bears went 13-3 under the former Yale graduate of Dick Jauron who had the Bears in the post-season in one entertaining magical year in team history. Jauron coached 28 seasons in the NFL and played 8 seasons as a player. He was loved by all whereever he worked as a coach and a player. It’s a shame when good people pass away as Jauron quietly did less than a week ago at the age of 74.

Dick Jauron was born in Peoria, Illinois. Jauron would attend grammar school in Rensselaer, Indiana. He played his high school football at Swampscott High School located in the state of Massachusetts. He was named top ten best high school players in the state of Massachusetts. He then played his college football at Yale University where he was 3 x First Team all Ivy-League. The Detroit Lions drafted Jauron in the 4th round of the 1973 NFL draft as a safety. He was also drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals as a short stop in the 1973 MLB draft. However he chose football over baseball. He played 8 years in the NFL with two teams. The Lions for 5 seasons and then the Bengals for 3 seasons. He earned his only pro bowl nomination in 1975 as he was still with the Lions. He played in 100 NFL games as a free safety and had 25 career interceptions. He had two defensive touchdowns. His NFL career ended after the 1980 season. In 2015 Jauron made it to the College Football Hall of Fame for his stellar play for the Yale Bulldogs.

Dick Jauron then took his talents to coaching as he started in 1985 with the Buffalo Bills as a defensive backs coach. Then from 1986-1994 he held the same job he had in Buffalo, only he did it with the Green Bay Packers. From 1995-98 he was the defensive coordinator for the Jacksonville Jaguars under Tom Coughlin. Then the Bears gave him his first head coaching job from 1999- 2003. In 2001 he led the Bears to the post-season as they were one and done. They were quickly dispatched in the wild card round by the Eagles. Jauron would get fired by the Bears and finished with a 35-45 record in 5 seasons in Chicago. In 2005 Jauron was defensive coordinator in Detroit the last few years after Chicago and he took over the head coaching duties. In the last games in 2005, he finished 1-4 as the interim HC. It was good enough that the Bills gave Jauron his next head coaching job in 2006. He was fired in week ten of the 2009 season as he lasted 4 seasons. Jauron had three straight 7-9 seasons in Buffalo until the 4th year when things got worse. He started the season with a 3-6 record and was fired. He finished with a 24-33 record in Buffalo. In 10 seasons as head coach he had a 60-82 record and only coached one playoff game which was the loss to the Eagles. After Buffalo, Jauron did one season in Philadelphia as defensive backs coach.Then got the defensive coordinator job in Cleveland for another three seasons.

The Bears before the 2001 season were picked by the experts to be one of the bottom feeders in the league. The Bears most likely played a weak schedule from being a bad team the year before. Like the LA Chargers this season played well, got into the playoffs, and looked like they did not belong. I think the Bears may have gotten lucky in some of these games they played in this magical season where they went 13-3. It was a year that they were 8-0 in games decided by 7 points or fewer. The things most Bears fans remember were the back to back overtime games they won that year with Dick Jauron as the head guy. These two games were comebacks by the Bears to send them to OT. The Bears then won both overtime games against the Browns and 49ers with Bears safety Mike Brown scoring two defensive touchdowns to seal the deal in back to back regular season games. Jauron instilled a work ethic with these guys in 2001 and it was working.

Mike Brown was Johnny on the spot as you would think he had some magnet that had the football go to him like a dog bringing back a stick after you tossed it. Every winning season has some luck. Look at the Kansas City Chiefs blocking a field goal to deny Denver an upset this past season. Then all those games where the zebras gave the Chiefs the call that sent Kansas City home with a slew of victories and followed that same MO throughout the postseason until they were denied in the Superbowl. What comes around goes around.

Dick Juaron won 13 games with quarterbacks named Jim Miller and Shane Matthews as the starters. Miller was one of my favorite Bears quarterbacks of all-time. Miller arrived in Chicago in a clunker he drove from Pittsburgh. Probably his high school car. He was a fat guy who tested positive for steroids. Something has to be wrong with the NFL testing when you see a QB fleshy and gooey. Miller that season was 11-2 behind center as the Bears’ main guy. Matthews went 2-1. The Bears had the A-Train at running back.

Anthony Thomas was bruising back the Bears drafted from the University of Michigan. He had a solid season for the Bears rushing for 1,183 yards with 7 touchdowns. Jauron had the defense playing well and the offense. The QB’s were game managers taking what the defense gave them and not making the mistakes to cost their team. It was the last year in Soldier Field before the city gutted the insides and put a space ship on top of the stadium in an all out makeover.

The next season the Bears played all their home games at the University of Illinois while the makeover was going on.. That did not help Dick Jauron’s team. It would also be the quarterback play that eventually doomed Jauron’s first head coaching job. The Bears signed former Falcons veteran Chris Chandler who was at the end of his NFL career. Chandler made 7 starts in 2002 and went 2-5 as the starter. The Bears also gave another washed out veteran a chance in former Steelers QB Kordell Stewart, aka Slash. The Bears then drafted Rex Grossman in the 2003 NFL draft as Chandler would linger another year after 2002 to be the bridge guy. The Bears did not play well after 2001 and Jauron was fired.

Dick Jauron was a players’ coach like Lovie Smith. These coaches were always calm, cool, collected and more like father figures than an NFL head coach. Jauron was head coach of two of my favorite teams that I follow to this day, the Bears and Bills. He came into both jobs when both franchises were not playing well. He was a guy that was a straight shooter to his players, media, and people in general. He did things his way. You knew where you were at with Jauron. He treated everyone like how he would want to be treated. Both the Bills and Bears did not have a solid team built for him to work with. He took average guys and made them better. You would have loved to see what he could have done if he had a solid roster to work with. Smith had the horses as he was the guy hired after Jauron. Jauron was hired by a different General Manager than the one that fired him. Jerry Angelo was the guy that fired Jauron and he probably had no choice to keep Dick after that 13-3 record. Angelo did more moves-wise for Smith than Jauron. You could say the deck was stacked against him after that 2001 season.

Watching Bears football over the years Dick Jauron would not be the worst coach I’ve seen on the sidelines. He definitely is one of my favorites. In Chicago we have had a lot of bad teams in the Windy City landscape. Jauron would not make that list of all the bad coaches we had in this town in the four main sports. He was a brilliant mind. Played the game smart. He was a better college player than professional. In 28 years of coaching in the NFL he called some great games on the defensive side of the ball for many teams. Jauron was diagnosed with cancer and lost his battle at the age of 74 years old which is a shame. He stepped away from the game to help his wife deal with dementia. He always put others ahead of himself. The NFL world lost a wonderful guy, husband, father, coach, and friend. The 2001 Bears team was one of the best seasons being a fan of a very bad franchise. You have to thank a guy like Dick for giving us something to cheer for in bleak times. As Bears fans, we hope Dick RIP!!!