After losing to the Broncos in Super Bowl 50, Panthers coach Ron Rivera immediately looked at the Broncos as an example of how to bounce back after defeat. Rivera told his players to remember the Broncos lost 43-8 in Super Bowl XLVIII to the Seattle Seahawks before winning the championship two years later.
"If we do anything lets learn from this experience," Rivera said on a conference call with the Denver media on Sunday. "... What we've tried to do is emphasize that this was a tremendous learning experience. We're a young team, relatively young, and I think we got some guys that can be around for a while. So to have this kind of experience can be invaluable."
Rivera hopes his team is a better because of what happened in Super Bowl 50 and he also hopes he'll become a better coach because of it was well. He says he looked at the lessons the Broncos learned from their Super Bowl loss as a way for the Panthers to move forward after last year's disappointment.
"One of the things I tried to do personally as a head coach, I actually went back and looked at the press clippings as to what happened after that Super Bowl," Rivera said in reference of Super Bowl XLVIII. "And really try to go back and look at Seattle as well after their loss to the Patriots the year before."
Rivera made an effort to learn from two teams who have suffered before quickly turning around and finding themselves on the winning end of the Super Bowl. He also sought advice from coaches whose names are synonymous with winning. Rivera spoke at length this offseason with NFL coaching great John Madden about sustaining success, as well as Baseball Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa.
