Ron Rivera awarded one of NFL’s most prestigious honors

The Washington Commanders haven’t done much winning under the tutelage of Ron Rivera, but the two-time AP Coach of the Year has done wonders turning the culture around and building a core that can enjoy sustained success.

At this point in his tenure, every (or most) Washington fans want Rivera to stick around for the long haul. He’s entering the third-year of a five-year contract signed in 2020 and 2022 will be huge in determining how long he stays.

If the Commanders improve in the win column and make a legitimate playoff run, the haters  — trust me, there are A LOT of them — will go back into hiding. That’s personally what we’re rooting for given everything Rivera’s gone through.

In light of his undeniable perseverance, Rivera was named the 2022 George Halas Award winner by the Pro Football Writers of America.

Commanders head coach Ron Rivera was the recipient of the 2022 George Halas Award by the PFWA.

The George Halas Award is given annually to an NFL player, coach or staff member who overcomes adversity to succeed.

Rivera would’ve won the award in 2021, but Alex Smith took home the honors after overcoming his catastrophic tibia and fibula fracture in 2018. The fact the franchise had two award-worthy comebacks in 2020 is nothing short of incredible. Rivera just had to wait his turn, and it was well worth it.

In August of 2020, the now-60-year-old Rivera was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma. Despite enduring seven weeks of treatments during the season, he never missed a game and sat out only three practices. He underwent three cycles of chemotherapy and received 35 proton therapy treatments.

Not only did Rivera lose upwards of 30 pounds, but he needed an IV during halftime of Week 1 vs the Eagles that season.

That made Rivera unavailable to give the halftime speech, but the late Dwayne Haskins stepped up as a leader, galvanized the team and it rallied in the form of scoring 20 unanswered points en route to a 27-17 win over their rivals.

Rivera wound up leading Washington to the playoffs hat year — his first as head coach — where they gave Tom Brady and the eventual Super Bowl champion Buccaneers all they could handle in the first round at FedEx Field.

Of course, the real win for Washington would come later that same month, when Rivera announced he was cancer-free.

From not missing a game, needing to use a golf cart during practice because the cancer zapped most of his energy, taking naps after virtual press conferences to muster the verve to coach the team, we think we speak for everyone in saying there was no one more deserving of this award than Rivera.

Congrats, coach!