The Cincinnati Bengals defense failed Joe Burrow this season, wasting the most prolific season of his entire career. And now, someone is being fired for it.
Joe Burrow returned this season after a season-ending wrist injury derailed his 2023 campaign, and he had an absolutely dominant 2024 season. Burrow led the league in passing yards and touchdowns while ranking in the top five in both quarterback rating and completion percentage.
Despite Burrow’s dominance, his team repeatedly fell short on the defensive side of the ball.
This season, the Bengals lost four games in which Burrow and the offense scored 30 or more points – an unfortunate league-high stat.
While Cincinnati’s offense set a franchise record with 472 points (which ranked sixth in the league), the defense allowed 434 points – the fifth most in the NFL.
The Bengals offense joined an exclusive and elite group of just seven teams over the past decade to throw more than 40 touchdown passes in a single season. Each of those teams won at least one game in the playoffs. Cincinnati, meanwhile, didn’t even make the postseason.
Ultimately, the Bengals failed to capitalize on a career year from the best quarterback in franchise history. And the team has already taken steps to ensure this doesn’t happen again.
Following the disappointing season, the Bengals decided to part ways with defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo after six seasons.
“I just felt like we needed a change,” Taylor said of firing Anarumo, according to the team website. “I thought long and hard about it. Lou’s been doing this for six years here and the success that we’ve had he’s been a big reason why we’ve had a lot of the success. I don’t take this lightly; put a lot of thought into it. It’s not an easy day for any of us. I just felt like we need to perform better as a football team. It’s not in any specific one area. I think we’ve got to be better in all three phases of our team and these are the decisions I made today and we’ll work to be better.”
In addition to Anarumo, the Bengals also fired defensive line coach Marion Hobby and linebackers coach James Bettcher as they look to completely overhaul that side of the ball next season.
The defense wasted a golden season from Burrow. And there has been some accountability.
