CHARLOTTE, N.C. — These guys know how to coach.
So why did it take so long for them to get their own teams?
Between them, Bruce Arians and Ron Rivera have won the last three AP Coach of the Year awards, and they are front-runners for this year's honor. Arians' Cardinals (14-3) and Rivera's Panthers (16-1) meet Sunday for the NFC championship, with the winner making his first trip to the Super Bowl as a head coach.
Arians parlayed his work as interim coach of the Colts in 2012 when Chuck Pagano had leukemia into Coach of the Year recognition, then into the Arizona job.