Cincy Jungle
The Cincinnati Bengals lost yet another game they should have won. They went into the bye week at 3-6. The only move they made at the NFL Trade Deadline was sending Logan Wilson off to the Dallas Cowboys for a seventh-round draft pick.
There seems to be no real direction for what the plan is to fix the defense. Fans are growing frustrated with this organization, and rightfully so.
You can make the argument that Al Golden and his defensive staff need to be fired. I don’t disagree with that.
Golden has never been an NFL defensive coordinator prior to this year. The players seem to have no respect for him. His positional coaches were not the most inspiring hires before the season began. There were a lot of holdovers from the previous staff, which is something I will never understand. When you give up 39 points to the Jets and 47 points to the Bears in back-to-back weeks, you should no longer have a job.
You can also make the argument that Zac Taylor needs to be fired. I don’t disagree with that, either.
This will be the third straight season without making the playoffs. When you have the offensive talent this team does, that is unacceptable. He should not get a pass for Joe Burrow being out. Joe Flacco has played lights out, yet this team is still losing.
If you want to argue that Zac doesn’t coach the defense, I get that. However, he is the HEAD COACH of the team. He is responsible for both sides of the ball. He went out of his way to say that the decision to let Lou Anarumo go was entirely his decision. He was squarely in the conversation about the next hire for that job. He helped choose his neighbor and former linebacker coach, Al Golden, to be the new defensive coordinator. The results are a defense that is on a historically bad pace for the 2025 season.
Another person who needs their walking papers is Duke Tobin. Tobin has been the de facto general manager and director of player personnel since 1999. The Bengals seem to only hit on draft picks when they have a top-five selection. Winning teams are getting quality starters in the middle rounds consistently. We are drafting players who are inactive or not even on the team after a couple of seasons in those rounds.
This man is responsible for making selections like Jackson Carman, John Ross, Cedric Ogbuehi, and so many other terrible selections over the years. The Bengals have selected defensive players with 10 out of their last 13 selections in the top three rounds.
What are the results of that? A last-place defense, with DJ Turner seeming like the only player who could see a second contract. Dax Hill had his fifth-year option picked up, but his performance has been up and down throughout the year. That pick is actually decent in comparison to the others.
Who were the other 8...
