The Carolina Panthers were the class of the NFC all season long, and head coach Ron Rivera was honored with 2015 NFL Coach of the Year honors Saturday after leading the Super Bowl 50 participants to a 15-1 regular-season record, the NFL announced on Twitter.
"It validates everything that we’ve done," Rivera told Max Henson of the Panthers' official website.
Beyond capturing a conference title, Rivera was plenty deserving based purely off of the raw gains Carolina posted in the win column. A year after going 7-8-1, Rivera led the Panthers to an eight-win improvement.