A young player lucking into just the right coach is always fortuitous, rarely simple or automatic, even with the best of draft choices. Buddy Ryan was the perfect coach for Richard Dent, Dan Hampton and rest of the sometimes-miscreant spirits that were the ’85 Bears. Apart from the matching of skillset to scheme is the matter of personalities, which don’t always necessarily sync up. Mike Ditka and Jim McMahon, not so much.
But the pairing of Cam Newton and Ron Rivera may be on course to be one of the best ever, right along with Bill Belichick and Tom Brady or Bill Walsh and Joe Montana.