It took a couple of weeks, but the Bengals' 2025 coaching staff is finally beginning to take shape. On Monday, the Bengals hired Scott Peters, formerly of the New England Patriots, to replace Frank Pollack as offensive line coach, and just yesterday, the Bengals agreed to terms with Al Golden, formerly at Notre Dame, to replace defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo. The foundation for the future has been laid – only time will tell if that foundation is solid, though.
As is tradition in Cincinnati, the fanbase’s attitude toward the hires was…well, mixed, at best. The Bengals have now missed the playoffs for two straight seasons. Last year was perhaps a bit more understandable given Joe Burrow played only ten games before being lost for the season with a wrist injury. 2024, though, saw Burrow put forth a historic campaign in which he set a new NFL standard with eight consecutive games of at least 250 passing yards and three touchdowns. Missing the playoffs – with a quarterback playing this well – would drive any fanbase (reasonably) insane.
Big changes were expected this offseason. Many hoped/expected Zac Taylor’s days as head coach to be numbered. It appears as if Taylor’s job is safe (for now), but some heads did roll – notably, Pollack, Anarumo, defensive line coach Marion Hobby, and linebackers coach James Bettcher.
So, that’s good news…right?
Maybe not. Anarumo has presided over two pretty horrific defenses for two consecutive seasons, but this is still the same coordinator that mystified the typically un-mystifiable Patrick Mahomes in the 2021 AFC Championship Game. Without Sweet Lou, the Bengals aren’t sniffing the Super Bowl. And now, the Bengals expect us to believe that sacking Lou will fix all their issues on D? I’m skeptical.
That said, hiring Golden might be a very savvy move. The Bengals could not afford another 2023 or 2024 experience defensively – not with Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase playing spectacular football on the other side of the ball. Golden has made a name for himself developing players and resuscitating programs that have fallen on hard times. If falling on hard times doesn’t describe the Bengals defense, I don’t know what does.
The Bengals needed a change on defense, and hiring Golden is a good start. Anarumo is a good coach, and that he was only out of a job for a couple weeks before the Indianapolis Colts scooped him up is evidence enough. But something wasn’t working. Whether it was schemes that didn’t fit the personnel or deficiencies in player development, Anarumo’s time was up.
Much the same can be said about Pollack as well. After helping turn the Dallas Cowboys’ offensive line of the mid-2010s into one of the premier units of the decade, Pollack arrived in Cincinnati to a ton of fanfare, but sadly, that enthusiasm was not rewarded with stellar play. In fact, it was mostly the opposite.
Since rejoining the Bengals in 2021, the Bengals have not been better than 23rd in the NFL in rushing yards, which was supposedly Pollack’s expertise. Of course, with Burrow under center and Chase and Tee Higgins out wide, running the ball is obviously secondary to the passing attack, but that’s still unacceptable.
It’s not like the Bengals haven’t had talent at the running back position either: Joe Mixon remains one of the better backs in the league even after being traded to the Houston Texans this past offseason, and Chase Brown emerged as an extremely versatile and explosive option out of the backfield this year. The problem stems from Pollack’s abject inability to develop his lineman into anything other than replacement-level players.
Development, in a nutshell, is what these two hires were all about. Golden will be tasked with grooming and molding a very young defense, while Peters will be tasked with improving an offensive line that has been no better than below-average for four years.
Golden, at least, has a track record in the college ranks of doing just that. Peters, on the other hand, is much more of a wild card. He has just a single season of experience as a team’s primary offensive line coach, and the 2024 Patriots had arguably the worst offensive line in football. Now, talent (or, more precisely, a lack of) meant the Patriots’ O-line had little hope of being anything other than a disaster, but can we really give Peters a pass on those grounds? In the case of the 2024 Patriots, actually, yes.
No fewer than twelve different offensive linemen started a game for the Pats this past season. For reference, NFL teams only keep about nine or ten lineman on their roster total. To add to the misery, Chukwuma Okorafor, who was supposed to be the team’s starting left tackle, was benched in Week 1 for poor play and subsequently left the team. The Patriots paid this man $4 million dollars and all they had to show for it was twelve measly (and ineffective) snaps.
So, it’s safe to say that Peters was not coaching the Patriots with a full deck, and yet, he’s not guaranteed a full deck with the Bengals either. Amarius Mims looks like a keeper after a solid rookie season, and Orlando Brown Jr. is a rock-solid left tackle, but guard play was horrendous this past season, and center Ted Karras is a great guy and fan-favorite, but he can’t be described as much more than average as a center. The Bengals don’t just need their in-house players to improve, they need an influx of talent. Guys like Cordell Volson and Alex Cappa can’t keep getting more opportunities. The fact that Volson has 3,180 snaps over the last three years should get anyone canned.
The hirings of Golden and Peters are a good start, but the Bengals can’t expect these two to work miracles. A greater emphasis on player development is nice, but the Bengals have to recognize that some players can’t be developed any further and they need to part ways. Volson and Cappa are two obvious cut-candidates along the O-line, while guys like Sheldon Rankins, Sam Hubbard, Germaine Pratt, and Geno Stone can’t be feeling too comfortable on the defensive side of the ball.
Lou Anarumo is not a bad football coach, and neither is Frank Pollack, but their inability to improve the level of play of the players at their disposal ultimately doomed both of them. Al Golden and Scott Peters may both be better fits, but it won’t matter if the Bengals don’t make the necessary moves to give them a legitimate opportunity to succeed. The Bengals just became the first team in NFL history to have the NFL’s top passer, top receiver, and top sack-artist on the same team – and they missed the playoffs. Unacceptable doesn’t even begin to describe how atrocious that fact is.
With that said, we should approach the hirings of Golden and Peters with cautious optimism. Golden has consistently elevated his defenses everywhere he’s been, but his lack of NFL experience, as well as his baked-in connection to the Bengals by virtue of his one year as the Bengals linebackers coach in 2021, makes it easy to see him as a “yes-man” hire who will happily fall in line behind owner Mike Brown and his front office cronies. Peters, meanwhile, has little-to-no track record whatsoever, but the man did train MMA fighters like Brock Lesnar and Cain Velasquez. If you can’t get excited about the idea of Amarius Mims being even more intimidating and dangerous, I don’t know what to tell you.
Anarumo and Pollack both served the Bengals admirably over the years, but the Bengals had no choice but to part ways. The defense has been miserable for two years, and the offensive line has had problems going back to the previous decade. Something had to change, and the Bengals didn’t hesitate. Time will tell if Golden and Peters were the right choices, but something tells me their success hinges less on their abilities and more on the front office bringing in the right players. If the Bengals are going to prioritize player development, at least make sure the players are worth developing in the first place.