Saturday's Wild Card playoff games reinforce Bengals' decision to move on from Lou Anarumo
Before the Cincinnati Bengals ripped off five straight victories to close the 2024 season out, their 4-5 record from the middle of the season dropped to 4-8 thanks to three consecutive losses. Three losses in which the defense allowed a combined 106 points. The offense put up 92. Seven additional points were provided by a […]
Before the Cincinnati Bengals ripped off five straight victories to close the 2024 season out, their 4-5 record from the middle of the season dropped to 4-8 thanks to three consecutive losses. Three losses in which the defense allowed a combined 106 points. The offense put up 92. Seven additional points were provided by a pick-six generated, and a fumble-six allowed.
This is the stretch of games that decided defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo's fate. Failing to limit high-scoring outputs while the Zac Taylor-Joe Burrow offense was firing on nearly all cylinders essentially wiped away any realistic chance at cracking the postseason.
And after Saturday's Wild Card doubleheader, the Bengals look even more justified in this decision.
Two of those losses Cincinnati suffered came by the hands of the Los Angeles Chargers and Pittsburgh Steelers, the first losers of this year's NFL Playoffs. They didn't just lose, they were offensively inept.
The Chargers put up a putrid showcase against the Houston Texans as Justin Herbert had the worst playoff QB performance we've seen since *checks notes* Brian Hoyer in 2015. 12 points is never going to cut it on the road in January.
The Steelers weren't much better as they went down early against the Baltimore Ravens and could only muster 14 points as a retaliation. Their offense had been falling off a cliff for the past month anyways.
A combined 26 points for both offenses. If the Bengals had allowed that total against either team individually, this season may've looked incredibly different.
Both of these offenses weren't enough once they arrived in the postseason, but they absolutely torched Anarumo's defense in the regular season in consecutive games. L.A. dropped 34 points—24 in the first half alone—against Cincy back in Week 11. The Steelers waltzed into Paycor Stadium two weeks later and dink-and-dunked their way to a 44-38 shootout victory which can really be looked at as 37-31 with each defense scoring a touchdown. Russell Wilson looked like he was back in 2013 again against a Bengals defense that was rested off a bye week.
It was really the Steelers game that did Anarumo in. Pittsburgh's offense regressed hard in the following weeks and it's no surprise Baltimore was able to put them away early Saturday night. Week 13 sticks out like a sore thumb when looking back at their season.
For Anarumo and Cincinnati, it was one of many frustrating weeks in which complementary football was just a concept.
Anarumo is off garnering interest and already has an interview lined up with the Indianapolis Colts. He's earned another job for the total work he's put in as a coach for 36 years, but now everyone can see why it was time for his run in Cincinnati to end. Getting to the playoffs and advancing is the goal, and he couldn't do anything to stop the worst of this year's bracket thus far.
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