The Cincinnati Bengals are turning the page. Their 2024 season with a 9-8 record wasn't good enough. They started their campaign 1-4 through five games, too.
The club deemed the defense an issue -- which isn't all that shocking as Joe Burrow and Ja'Marr Chase led a high-powered offense by putting together career years.
After the season, the Bengals replaced their defensive coordinator of six years with Al Golden, who was the linebacker coach in 2020 and 2021.
While there is plenty to be changed within the Begnals' organization this offseason, building a strong staff is essential as Zac Taylor tries to turn the ship around.
One issue under Taylor's tenure in Cincinnati is that the start of each season is consistently slow. Golden has been with the club, so he's familiar with these issues.
Bringing in the new defensive coordinator will help as the Bengals can look to turn the tide in that regard. Golden recently joined Bengals' play-by-play voice Dan Hoard in his radio show to talk about the woes.
"That's kind of an in-house thing, like, what do we need to do in-house wise to solve that problem?" Golden said to Hoard. "Because obviously, that's a sensitive subject in terms of we all know that that's something that will be on the docket this offseason in terms of starting faster. But in terms of giving you ideas. I think it's best to keep that in-house and work through Zac on that."
If the Bengals could have avoided a 1-4 start to the season during the 2024 season, they would have been a playoff team with one of the league's best quarterbacks leading the way.
Cincinnati has a 7-14-1 record in September -- the first month of NFL play each season -- during Taylor's tenure as the head coach.
-1737101131-q80.webp "Joel Fаrаbee Eаrns Two Poіnts іn һіs Return, Flyers Beаts Isles 5-3")