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  • HoosierCat changed the title to Lou Anarumo, Pollack, Hobby, Bettcher Fired
Posted

I’m glad they moved fast.

Now get QUALITY replacements if you really are a different organization than you once were. Don’t drag your feet and hire the table scraps, and don’t just promote some under qualified position coach.

  • Like 1
Posted

It’s funny though i wanted Lou gone, but really makes me wonder, what is he supposed to do with crap guys? They let there best defense players walk, try to replace them with aging vets, and cheaper options that turned out bad, is that his fault? I don’t know, he did well for awhile and I’m sure he will get a job elsewhere. 

  • Like 1
Posted

What degree of failure was Lou's fault?  I don't honestly know, but there are guys here he had direct input on bringing in that have failed.
He had input on free agents and was responsible for installing the defense the guys he does have can operate within it.
I think it was like 2-3 weeks ago, we got word he "simplified" the defense to allow players to move around and communicate better.
Did it take him 14-15 weeks to figure out that's what he needed to do?

Just like anything else in the world, someone needs to be held accountable for the epic failure that was the Bengals 2024 season.
Anarumo was at the top of that list for me.

Pollack, Hobby and the linebackers coach were just added bonuses.  Especially Pollack and his inability to develop ANYONE.

  • Like 1
Posted
22 minutes ago, volcom69 said:

Well I was not expecting that 

I expected Lou would get the boot. You just can't lose games on defense the way the Bengals did this season and expect to keep your job. That three-game stretch where the offense put up 33+ points in each game and the team went 0-3 made this inevitable.

As for Hobby and Bettcher, that feels like mostly "well, the new DC will want to bring in his guys so we'll let you two get a jump on your job search" moves. If I were Burks and Kovacs (the secondary coaches) I wouldn't be making long term plans...

Pollack should have been gone years ago.

Posted

I hope for D-Coordinator is someone with Secondary background.    It was time for Lou to go.    Lou had some great playoff games.    But his units always bled yards and the past two seasons started bleeding points.    It would have been a gamble in a critical year to give him another 3/4 new starters and hope for better.    Grab a new guy, give them 3/4 new guys and give it a shot.   Lou's D cost them playoff appearances the past two years.

Pollack.   That guy played favorites, IMO.  Not that Carman was super awesome but he was equally as bad as Volson and Adeniji.   He kept running those guys out there and finally Volson got the bench.    The 3 sack game became a standard of a good game for the O-line. 

 

Posted

I think Lou bears a large degree of the defensive performance.   When things are vanilla the defense had the entire football world thinking Burrow's wrist was falling off in Training Camp.   Interject game plan and completely different story.    My opinion teams knew what route combos and formations his zone coverage had trouble adjusting to.

He threw Dax under the bus but then had the same problems.     Run fits in the back 7 are always out of whack and combined with bad pursuit angles.  

Back when Caskey would do the All-22 break downs this was a constant theme.

That's not to suggest Lou really has the monster of midway over there.   He had enough talent to win a game when the offense is scoring 25+.   The Bengals are still going to need to overturn and add talent to have a top tier defense. 

Posted

When it comes to coordinators and head coaches, firings are always unfair to some degree. It's rarely 100% the coach's fault. But that's part of the job, and these guys know that when they sign up. Lou's time finally ran out, and really, a six-year run is pretty good in this league. I wish him the best, as long as he's not coaching against us.

  • Like 2
Posted
1 hour ago, HoosierCat said:

Just a note, Taylor has a press conference scheduled for 12:30, should be interesting.

Or not. Taylor insisted all the firings were his decisions, really tough, yadda yadda yadda. No hints as to candidates. Not much to say player-wise since the storm has delayed a lot of the end-of-season player meetings. Lots of talk about processes. Going to be doing a lot of processes. Might need to upgrade from 16k to 32k RAM, so much processing.

Posted

Solid list of possible Lou replacements from Dehner here: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6040311/2025/01/06/bengals-defensive-coordinator-candidates/

His candidates:

Notre Dame DC (and former Bengals LB coach) Al Golden

Eagles secondary coach Christian Parker

Denver Broncos DB coach/pass game coordinator Jim Leonhard

LA Rams pass game coordinator/assistant head coach Aubrey Pleasant

Carolina Panthers defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero

Dennis Allen

Matt Eberflus

Robert Saleh

Mike Zimmer

Paul notes that Allen and Pleasant are guys Taylor tried to get before hiring Lou, and that Evero was on the same Rams staff as Zac.

 

Posted

I’m shocked by these firings.  
 

1. the defense.  The status quo wasn’t an option I guess.  Can’t fire the whole defensive roster, so goodbye coach.

2.  Pollack benefited a ton from following Jim Turner who, along with the team’s 6-25-1 record while he was handling the line, distinguished himself as one of the least likable people in the nfl, and that’s saying something.  Guys with legitimate nfl careers were retiring off the bengals rather than play for Turner.  Pollack is a decent human being and had 5 years here and he was never Jim Turner the whole time he was here.  Best of luck to you Frank Pollack and thank you.  

Posted

Former head coach sounds good to me (e.g., Saleh or Allen). They never do that.

Zimmer would be fun. I can't help but cringe at his playoff woes, but I am sure that was Marvin's fault.

Posted
9 minutes ago, Stripes said:

Former head coach sounds good to me (e.g., Saleh or Allen). They never do that.

Zimmer would be fun. I can't help but cringe at his playoff woes, but I am sure that was Marvin's fault.

As a head coach of Vikings he won in the Divisional round and Wildcard round in two different seasons.      As Bengals coordinator we know the playoff struggles.

As a Dallas Coordinator they had a playoff game won but that's the game Romo flubbed the snap on FG or XP, can't remember.

Posted
1 hour ago, Stripes said:

Former head coach sounds good to me (e.g., Saleh or Allen). They never do that.

Sound good to me as well, but probably not to Zac. He just took his mulligan by canning Lou. It’s playoffs or bust for him next season. And if next season starts out on the “or bust” category like always does somehow, he is certainly not going to want to have a former HC handy for the FO to promote.

Posted

Supposedly Saleh is well respected as a defensive coordinator.  
 

The last time Zac hired a DC and offensive line coach, the jobs weren’t super attractive.  

We should have the best DC candidates in the league lining up to take this DC job.  Just get our defense up to average and you are on a Super Bowl candidate team.  The last guy who had this job was getting constantly glossed for head coaching jobs on tv.  Will be a deep pool of high level guys this time.  They better get a good one.  

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