CINCINNATI — The Bengals’ season of high expectations is headed south. Before the calendar even turns to November, Joe Burrow sat at his weekly news conference having to adamantly declare Week 9 against the Raiders a “must-win game.”
“We’re 3-5,” he said. “You go to 3-6 then you’ve got to basically win out to get in. So the urgency is very high every week from here on out.”
Extreme urgency and must-win games spawn more uncomfortable conversations in a season full of them in Cincinnati.
The fan base’s anger has grown deafening from the underachieving state of the team to Sunday’s telling 37-17 debacle of a loss against the Eagles and fourth consecutive home defeat this season.
As with so many NFL fan bases across a league full of disappointing teams, there are questions about roles and job security.
Specifically in Cincinnati, they’ve revolved around whether head coach Zac Taylor should give up offensive play calling or if defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo should be on the hot seat.
I spent some time taking the temperature of those two questions this week and found fairly clear answers.
Will Taylor give up play calling?
A trend that has popped up around the league in recent years has been offensive head coaches who call plays handing over the reins to an offensive coordinator.
Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski gave up play calling last week to Ken Dorsey. Last week’s opponent, Nick Sirianni, was an architect of the Eagles offense upon taking over but turned over play calling to different coordinators, including current OC Kellen Moore, to free him up to handle game management. Giants head coach Brian Daboll allowed coordinator Mike Kafka to call plays before taking it back this year. Jaguars head coach Doug Pederson handed the play sheet to Taylor’s brother, Press, last season.
Miami head coach Mike McDaniel admitted he pondered giving up play calling this past offseason, and Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy famously said years ago he would never give up the responsibility.
Each coach seems to have his own relationship with the most important job in coaching, but almost universally, head coaches with play-calling backgrounds still call the plays for their team.
Zac Taylor has called plays for the Bengals since arriving in 2019.
Over the last four seasons, his offense ranks in the top 10 in most predictive categories.
|
Year
|
Pts/Dr
|
Red Zone
|
3D%
|
|---|---|---|---|
|
2021-’24
|
8th (2.20)
|
3rd (62.1%)
|
9th (41.7%)
|
|
2024
|
9th (2.33)
|
5th (66.7%)
|
5th (45.9%)
|
|
2023
|
14th (1.87)
|
10th (59.6%)
|
20th (37.6%)
|
|
2022
|
5th (2.34)
|
5th (64.9%)
|
3rd (46.1%)
|
|
2021
|
12th (2.35)
|
17th (59.6%)
|
16th (39.6%)
|
|
2020
|
27th (1.70)
|
29th (50.0%)
|
30th (36.2%)
|
|
2019
|
29th (1.49)
|
30th (43.8%)
|
22nd (36.0%)
|
How much of that credit belongs to Taylor versus Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins working their magic is not only up for debate but the crux of it.
Taylor didn’t waver on insistence calling plays during his first five seasons working alongside current Titans head coach Brian Callahan. Dealing with his first coordinator change to Dan Pitcher this past offseason, Taylor had time to reevaluate how he would handle the distribution of duties and even had Pitcher running the offense for much of the offseason program.
He opted to stay as the primary play caller. That is not expected to change.
Taylor’s play calling came back into focus after the call on fourth-and-1 against Philadelphia throwing behind the sticks to Chase, who was tackled in the backfield for a critical turnover on downs that turned the game.
THAT'S A BAD (DE)JAWN 😤@cdejean23 | #FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/ZlMCooglqv
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) October 27, 2024
Taylor admitted after the game he regretted the call and on Monday stated failure in that critical moment was “100 percent on me.”
Burrow has spoken out in overwhelming support of his head coach consistently throughout his career, stating on multiple occasions including on the “Up & Adams Show With Kay Adams” this August, “I couldn’t have asked for a better coach to come into this league. He really empowers the quarterback to go out and make the offense his own.”
Now halfway through a season with a fair share of frustration and a new dynamic at coordinator, Burrow says he’s still quite comfortable with the situation and it hasn’t changed with the Taylor-Pitcher combination.
“It’s been great,” he said. “We have meetings after every game to talk about things each of us could have done better, trying to improve and trying to stay on the same page. Those meetings are very positive, so I’m happy with how that’s gone.”
Is Anarumo’s seat hot?
Taylor and Anarumo are in their sixth season together. They came up together in the NFL in Miami over a decade ago. Anarumo has been viewed as one of the best defensive coordinators in the NFL as he lifted the Bengals’ defense in back-to-back deep playoff runs in 2021 and 2022.
The last two seasons haven’t gone well, with the defense struggling to replace safeties Jessie Bates and Vonn Bell last year and finishing last in the league in explosive play rate allowed. They were 25th in points allowed per drive.
After signing Geno Stone and Sheldon Rankins in an aggressive free-agency period, bringing back Bell and using two Day 2 picks on defense, the unit has endured some of the worst defensive performances in franchise history. Multiple top picks from recent years have fallen below expectations and regressed.
Struggles against the league’s quality offenses have been devastating. In games against teams with winning records, they are allowing a score on 63 percent of drives, last in the league by 8 percent. They’ve allowed at least 37 points three times. Only one Bengals team has allowed more such games in a season (five, 1979).
The 37-17 loss to the Eagles ranks among the worst in Anarumo’s tenure and there’s obvious concern about the direction of the defense in the short- and long-term.
Taylor and Anarumo have been through far too much together to believe this stretch would force a move or consideration of one. Remember, seven of the 11 starters played for Anarumo in a magical run to the Super Bowl three years ago where he earned his reputation as what Bell once dubbed, “the mad scientist.” There is a relationship and trust level. Any time a coordinator is replaced midstream, it is always connected to players not believing or listening to the message.
There has been no sign of that.
Things would have to get almost impossibly worse for anything as drastic as moving on from Anarumo midseason to happen. The defense still performed well against the Giants and Browns the previous two weeks, allowing only three touchdowns in the two defensive-driven wins.
Replicating more performances like those against a future run of offenses ranked in the bottom half of the league can stabilize the group and make the big picture far less egregious.
Cincinnati only has one game left on the schedule against a team ranked in the top half of the league in offensive DVOA — in one week on “Thursday Night Football” in Baltimore.
“You’ve got to believe that you’re going to keep getting better and you’re going to put some of those mistakes behind you,” Anarumo said. “I think that’s what we’re always striving for. I think it’s a good football team that we played, and we’re going to face multiple good teams coming up. I have faith in our guys and faith in our team and faith in our coaches just knowing that we’re knowing that we’re not going to stop fighting.”
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(Top photo: Jeff Dean / Associated Press)
