Coaching staff changes reflect Bengals ‘higher expectations and standards,’ Taylor says

The Bengals bounced back from a 4-8 start to the season to win five straight and finish with a winning record for a fourth consecutive year; however, falling short of the playoffs in back-to-back 9-8 seasons was unacceptable considering the talent on the team, Taylor said.

Cincinnati had the league’s leading passer, receiver and pass rusher — in quarterback Joe Burrow, receiver triple-crown winner Ja’Marr Chase and defensive end Trey Hendrickson — but yet those performances were not enough to overcome issues on the offensive line that allowed 48 sacks and in all levels of the defense.

“Those were extremely hard moves for me to make,” Taylor said in a press conference conducted via Zoom because of snowy conditions Monday. “Those were all men that I have a ton of respect for and been through high and exciting times with and do not take those decisions lightly. I appreciate all that those guys brought to the table. They’re like brothers to me. They worked hard every single day and those were not easy decisions to make. We’ll work to make those hires as soon as possible when that time is appropriate.”

Taylor said the decision to make changes was his alone, and as soon as the Bengals were eliminated from the playoffs with the Broncos’ win over the Chiefs on Sunday, he began evaluating what immediate improvements could be made for 2025.

Anarumo’s defense, which played a key role in the Super Bowl run at the end of the 2021 season, was among the worst in the league through those first 12 games of 2024, ranking 31st in points allowed (28.33 per game) at the time and 27th in yards allowed (369.2). The numbers significantly improved over the last five games, but it wasn’t enough to save jobs.

“Lou’s been doing this for six years here, and the success that we’ve had, he’s been a big reason why we’ve had a lot of the success,” Taylor said. “I don’t take this lightly; put a lot of thought into it. It’s a not an easy day for any of us. Just felt like we need to perform better as a football team. It’s not in any specific one 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.”

Asked if a change in philosophy is needed, Taylor said that depends on what candidates are available and what the organization finds as the best fit. The Bengals also could see more personnel changes with the hiring of a new defensive coordinator, Taylor acknowledged, and they will be evaluating their draft process after investing heavily on defense with picks in the top three rounds the past few years only to see little development.

Taylor is not immune when it comes to finding areas needed for improvement. He is ultimately responsible for the performance of the team, and the Bengals have struggled at the start of seasons throughout his time in Cincinnati.

Some of that is on the players — even Burrow has not played well early in seasons — but Taylor said there are no excuses.

“We’re going to work like hell to make sure that we start the season the right way to put ourselves in a great position to finish like we did, you know, because there’s a lot of positives there with the way we finished, and it’s sickening that we’re not in the playoffs with an opportunity to keep this thing going, because we finally found a lot of momentum,” Taylor said. “.. It’s just on us as a whole to finish games off earlier in the season, and it’s on me as head coach to make sure we come out of the offseason, we come out of training camp and we’re ready to hit the ground running from Game 1.”

Taylor will spend time over the next two months reflecting and evaluating what the best course of action will be for the offseason workout program and into training camp to make sure players are ready for Week 1 of the 2025 season.

As a head coach, Taylor said he feels urgency to improve every single day but especially after falling short of expectations. His job could be on the line next year if progress isn’t made.

“I’ll certainly look back over those games that we lost and some of the moments where I need to do a better job of taking control of the game and making sure our team took control of the game in those late moments where you lost games that you were a play or two away,” Taylor said when asked about his own performance. “That’s one of the things that I’ve got to do better. Those aren’t things you can run from when you’re in my shoes. Those are things you’ve got to address head on, and I’ve never had an issue doing that.”