After missing the playoffs, the Cincinnati Bengals announced a shakeup on the coaTching staff. The team fired defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo following the Bengals’ disappointing season.
“The Cincinnati Bengals fired the defensive coordinator on Monday, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported,” an NFL.com story on the firing read.
Cincy had the league’s 25th-ranked defense.
While Joe Burrow and the Bengals offense exploded this season, the defense lagged behind. They were one of the worst units in the NFL against both the run and the pass. So the firing makes sense on that level after the team failed to meet its expectations yet again.
Cincy is only a few years removed from a Super Bowl run and, the following year, another run to the AFC Championship Game. But since the Kansas City Chiefs beat them in the rematch in the 2022 season, the Bengals haven’t made it back.
Two disappointing seasons in a row have left Burrow and the Bengals reeling. This will be an imperative offseason for them with both Tee Higgins and Ja’Marr Chase wanting new contracts.
It’d no doubt behoove the organization to follow through and keep both. But it isn’t likely, and Cincy’s history with free agents has loomed large.
Time will tell to see if these are the only moves made in Cincinnati this offseason.
[NFL.com]
About Chris Novak
Chris Novak has been talking and writing about sports ever since he can remember. Previously, Novak wrote for and managed sites in the SB Nation network for nearly a decade from 2013-2022