Bruce Arians Shares What His Family Told Him Before 2020 Season

Bruce Arians just completed his best year as head coach, leading the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a Super Bowl victory after landing Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski, and Leonard Fournette, topping off an already talented roster. If some members of his family had their way, Arians might not have coached this year at all.

It is hard to blame them. At 68, Arians is the oldest coach to ever win a Super Bowl. While the NFL was able to get through its season this year, COVID-19 found its way into a number of locker rooms. Coaches like Arians are at higher risk of bad outcomes from the virus.

During a post-Super Bowl interview with the Los Angeles Times, Arians admitted that his wife Christine, with whom he’s been married nearly 50 years, and his children implored him to “serious consider” opting out. He did not, obviously, but said that he’s been as careful as possible, before getting vaccinated recently.

“I went to work, came home,” Arians said. “We haven’t gone out to dinner since July. We have all these open-air restaurants here, but I just couldn’t risk it. Both of us are high risk.

“Some people said, ‘Dad, you need to opt out this year,’ and I was like, ‘No way. I’ll risk it. It’s going to be a magical year.’”

You can’t blame Arians’ family for being nervous, and it’s good to hear how seriously he took everything this year. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers also avoided some of the major issues that other teams faced during the year, so it sounds like the team was pretty cautious, even in a state like Florida, that has taken a more laissez-faire approach to handling the virus.

Now, Bruce Arians and the Bucs have a repeat on their minds. Tom Brady is set to return, Arians says he’ll be back, and he likes Tampa’s chances in 2021.

“Hell, no, I ain’t going anywhere,” he said after the win. “I’m coming back, trying to get two. And then we’ll see after that. But, no, this football team — I love these guys. We have a great staff, a great team. Hopefully [general manager] Jason [Licht] and I can get together to keep most of ’em and try to repeat.”

[Los Angeles Times]

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