Last season, it was impossible to argue that the Cincinnati Bengals managed to live up to expectations. After two consecutive seasons ending in the AFC Championship Game, the Queen City Club didn’t even make the playoffs last season as they finished fourth in the league’s toughest conference. Regardless of talent on the roster, an underperforming team usually requires scapegoats and Cincinnati will certainly be looking for one if they can’t make the playoffs this upcoming season.
Cincinnati Bengals Coach on the Hot Seat
Last season, the defense took a monster step back as they finished 31st in the NFL in total defense by giving up 374.6 total yards per game. Even though defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo managed to salvage his season statistically by performing well in situational metrics (third down and red zone percentage), this defense can clearly do much better.
That’s even after the fact that Cincinnati has invested a tremendous portion of both their draft capital and their salary cap percentage toward an expensive defense. After finishing in the top half of teams in 2022 at 16th in the NFL with 335.7 yards per game, the rushing defense went on a nosedive last season. The team was 7th best in the NFL in 2022 with only 106.6 rushing yards allowed per game which gave the team plenty of flexibility on the defensive side. In 2023, that number torpedoed to 126.2 rushing yards per game which places the team at 26th in the NFL.
While that 20 yards per game may not seem like a lot, that in many cases equates to a full yard per carry. The difference between three yards per carry and four yards per carry is the difference between forcing a punt and giving up a first down. The cause for the decline was obvious last season as the team completely forgot how to tackle. My theory stands that Anarumo put a higher emphasis on turnovers rather than allowing them to come organically and players like linebacker Germaine Pratt focused on stripping the ball rather than going for a sound tackle.
The subject of multiple head coaching interviews a year ago, the heat has turned up on Anarumo as his defense is in a make-or-break season for the coach’s career. Unfortunately, the defensive coordinator will have to figure out how to stop the run without a starting quality nose tackle after elite run stopper D.J. Reader left for the Detroit Lions this offseason. Now this is a team that must rely on two undersized defensive tackles while also lining up in a nickel formation as their base defense. Anarumo will have to pull out all of the stops this season to keep this defense competitive in an increasingly offensive league.
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