Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor seemingly discovered his scapegoat for an additional underwhelming season.
On Monday, Kelsey Conway of the Cincinnati Enquirer reported Taylor fired defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo. He additionally canned offensive line coach Frank Pollack, defensive position coach Marion Pastime and linebackers coach James Bettcher, through The Athletic’s Paul Dehner Jr.
Shifting on from Anarumo makes some sense for the membership. This season, the Bengals (9-8) tied for twenty fifth within the league in factors allowed (25.5). Final season, they completed twenty first (22.6 PPG) on this class. Nevertheless, firing Anarumo should not hold Taylor off the recent seat.
In his first 4 seasons with the Bengals, Taylor and Co. made two AFC Championship Video games and Tremendous Bowl LVI, the place they misplaced to the Los Angeles Rams, 23-20.
Since then, the membership has underachieved, lacking the playoffs for 2 straight seasons. Throughout this span, Taylor is 18-16 and has did not win shut video games. Cincinnati went 4-7 in one-possession video games this season.
He cannot pin the postseason drought on a scarcity of expertise. This season, Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow led the league in passing yards (4,918 in 17 video games), and huge receiver Ja’Marr Chase completed with probably the most receiving yards (1,708 in 17 video games). In the meantime, Cincinnati edge-rusher Trey Hendrickson had probably the most sacks (17.5 in 17 video games).
“A crew with all three of these ought to by no means miss the playoffs,” CBS analyst/former Houston Texans star J.J. Watt stated Sunday on “The NFL Today.”
The Bengals began 1-3, which proved pricey. Sluggish begins have grow to be a pattern underneath Taylor. The Bengals lost two of their first 4 video games in 2022 and three of their first four in 2023.
With a proficient roster, the Bengals needs to be competing for Tremendous Bowls. Subsequent season, Taylor should present he isn’t stopping the crew from reaching its potential.
