Let’s Be Realistic About How Much Lou Anarumo Was To Blame
Credit: Sam Greene via Imagn Images
Black Monday visited the Cincinnati Bengals, and while Zac Taylor is still in as head coach, several coaches received a pink slip, including defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo.
Bengals fired defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo, per source. pic.twitter.com/2GnXHTgOZs
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 6, 2025
How deserved is it? On some level, it doesn’t matter. When a team finishes sixth in points per game because of an MVP-caliber quarterback and finishes 9-8 due to a defense that’s tied for 25th in points allowed per game… someone’s going to be the fall guy. The defensive coordinator is always going to be a solid bet for who that fall guy would be.
But let’s take a moment to be fair to Anarumo, because a lot of factors came into play here. The first and most obvious one is the team letting a string of solid veterans walk, particularly after the 2022 season. His defensive rank fell from 16th to 31st in a single season, and much of it could be tied to the front office letting their best defensive player, Jessie Bates III, jump ship. He’s doing OK in Atlanta, we hear.
Jessie Bates III, best Falcons free agent signing! https://t.co/tChMUSOv1e pic.twitter.com/NxBtb2l7R1
— Carrie (@carrielynnxox) December 22, 2024
The loss of D.J. Reader after the following season also didn’t do him any favors. Reader is now plugging the middle for the 15-2 Detroit Lions, who are the NFC’s No. 1 seed. Maybe you’ve heard of them.
Should the Bengals have held Anarumo accountable for that? Or should he have been expected to do more with less? Was he truly the problem with the defense?
Even with the success that Anarumo’s had in the past, Taylor alluded to the fact that the team underperformed in 2024 and a shift was necessary.
“Just felt like we needed a change,” Taylor said. “Again, [I] did not take that decision lightly – thought long and hard about it. Lou’s been doing this for six years here and the success we’ve had, he’s been a big reason why we’ve had a lot of the success… I put a lot of thought [into] it. It’s not an easy day for any of us. And just felt like we need to perform better as a football team. So, it’s not in any [one specific] 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.”
Up until his firing, Anarumo had been with the Bengals since 2019, which tied him with Steve Spagnu0lo as the longest-tenured defensive coordinator in the NFL. Anarumo had a reputation as a defensive mastermind, but as previously mentioned, the performance of his unit declined throughout his tenure.
Lou Anarumo’s #Bengals defenses ranked (total yards/game)
2019: 29th
2020: 26th
2021: 18th
2022: 16th
2023: 31st
*2024: 27thBut please tell me how it’s ALL due to a lack of talent. pic.twitter.com/0CeJyfsd3S
— Bengals Backyard 🐅 (@BengalsBackyard) December 2, 2024
Anarumo certainly isn’t absolved of blame. The Bengals drafted young defensive talent across the board, and they all showed flashes of potential, but a legitimate argument could be made that the coaching staff failed in developing and maximizing young talent. Dax Hill was thrown into several different positions in his first few seasons in the league and never seemed to come into his own in any of them. Things finally seemed to click in his third season in the league, until a torn ACL sidelined him for the remainder of the season.
Several other young defensive players were given limited reps in favor of veterans that Lou Anarumo was seemingly overly loyal to. Sam Hubbard’s production steeply declined, particularly as a pass rusher, but he remained a starter up until his season-ending knee injury, while Joseph Ossai and Myles Murphy (who were clearly better pass rushers) received limited snaps. Upon the Bengals bringing back Vonn Bell prior to the 2024 season, he was given the starting nod over Jordan Battle, whose ascent into a rock-solid defender earned him All-Rookie honors by the Pro Football Writers Association.
But even with those flaws, losing foundational players like Reader and Bates, both of which still had plenty left in the tank, did Anarumo zero favors. It was made worse by the fact that their replacements were Sheldon Rankins, who missed the second half of the season with an illness, and Nick Scott, whose level of play gave me an illness.
You can make the argument that the front office continued their tendency to cheap out on talented players and essentially told Anarumo, “Figure it out.” Lou very openly stated that Reader would be a “hard guy to replace,” and referred to the possibility of losing Bates and Bell in the same offseason (which ultimately became a reality) as “a dark day”. Despite Anarumo holding those players in high regard, the front office let those players walk anyway.
With that in mind, despite the Bengals’ defense performing poorly over the last few seasons, Anarumo is not expected to be unemployed for very long.
There are several head coaching candidates hoping to land Anarumo on their staff as defensive coordinator. It was clearly time for change for both sides. https://t.co/Zi8HFkBf9i
— Dianna Russini (@DMRussini) January 6, 2025
Anarumo maintains his rock-solid reputation in NFL coaching circles and could find himself finding a job relatively quickly. To his credit, he’s had successful years when he’s had the pieces to succeed. While it may have just been time for a new voice, regardless of who ultimately should be at fault, pointing fingers at Anarumo for the Bengals’ poor defensive play may not be entirely warranted.
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