Dick Jauron, who served as head coach of the Chicago Bears and Buffalo Bills, died Saturday at the age of 74, both teams announced.
His finest season on the sideline came in 2001, when he led the Bears to a 13-3 record and was awarded Associated Press NFL Coach of the Year honors.
Before his coaching days, Jauron played defensive back in the NFL for eight seasons from 1973-1980. The fourth-round pick from Yale and pride of Swampscott High School in Massachusetts hit the ground running as a rookie. He tallied four interceptions, including a pick-six, while leading the league in INT yards with 208 as a member of the Detroit Lions.
Those efforts led to his second-place finish in voting for the 1973 AP Defensive Rookie of the Year award. Jauron reached his lone Pro Bowl the following season.
He would play for Detroit through the 1977 season, after which he spent three years roaming the secondary for the Cincinnati Bengals.
Jauron retired from playing with 25 interceptions, 15 fumble recoveries and four sacks.
Five years later, he was back in the NFL as a coach, first as a defensive assistant for the Buffalo Bills and then as a defensive backs coach with the Green Bay Packers from 1986-1994.
After a decade of experience, he joined the expansion Jacksonville Jaguars as Tom Coughlin's defensive coordinator. The Jags reached the AFC Championship Game in their second year of existence, and thereafter made the playoffs twice more while Jauron served as DC though the 1998 season, at which point he was hired as Chicago's head coach.
Jauron took over a Bears team that had fallen on tougher times in the post-Mike Ditka era, having made the playoffs just once in the previous six seasons.
By 2001, the former defender had built up a fearsome defense behind the likes of defensive tackle Ted Washington, linebacker Brian Urlacher and safety Mike Brown, all of whom made first-team All-Pro. Jauron's defense topped the league that season in points allowed, it's first time doing so since the Bears accomplished the feat three times during the 1980s.
A 13-3 run that ended in the Divisional Round proved the height of Jauron's tenure with the Bears, however, as he coached the team for just two more years and went 35-45.
Following his firing from the Bears, Jauron remained in the NFC North to reunite with Detroit as defensive coordinator in 2004. He served as the Lions' interim head coach in 2005 after Steve Mariucci's midseason firing and impressed before taking another head-coaching gig with the Bills in 2006.
He spent three and a half seasons in Buffalo and went 24-33 overall.
Jauron then spent 2010 as the Philadelphia Eagles' defensive backs/assistant head coach, and finished out his NFL coaching career coordinating the Cleveland Browns' defense from 2011-2012.
Jauron, a prominent figure within the NFL for 35 years, finished his career with a Pro Bowl as a player, Coach of the Year award and 60-82 record.
