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The Bears confirmed his death, which came one
day before Philadelphia — where Jauron briefly served as an
assistant to current Chiefs coach Andy Reid — played Kansas City
in the Super Bowl in New Orleans.
Jauron was a two-sport star at Yale in the early 1970s, and he
was drafted by both the Detroit Lions in the NFL draft and the
St. Louis Cardinals in the Major League Baseball amateur draft.
He ultimately made football his lifelong pursuit, beginning with
five seasons as a defensive back in Detroit and three more with
Cincinnati before his retirement in 1980.
The well-liked Jauron moved into coaching and five years later
was hired by the Bills as a defensive backs coach. He went on to
coach defensive backs in Green Bay and became friends with Reid,
who was an assistant offensive line and tight ends coach.
In 1995, Jauron was hired by Tom Coughlin as the defensive
coordinator for the expansion Jacksonville Jaguars, and he
parlayed success there into the head coaching job in Chicago.
Jauron had just one winning record in five seasons with the
Bears, winning the NFC North in 2001 before losing to the Eagles
— then coached by Reid — in the divisional round of the
playoffs.
Jauron was fired in 2003 and became the defensive coordinator in
Detroit, where he served as the interim coach for five games in
2005. He spent the next four seasons as the head coach in
Buffalo but never had a winning record.
He finished with a 60-82 record and one playoff berth over parts
of 10 seasons as a head coach.
Jauron's death came just two days after the Bears announced the
death of Virginia Halas McCaskey, who inherited the franchise
from her father, George Halas, and spent four-plus decades as
the principal owner. She was 102.
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