Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor’s decision to fire Lou Anarumo was not one that he took lightly
After a 4-8 start to the season, the Cincinnati Bengals came oh-so-close to clawing their way back into the postseason picture. The Bengals won five games in a row to close out the regular season, finished 9-8, and boasted the league’s most prolific quarterback-receiver duo in Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase, but a defense that ranked 25th in both points allowed and yards allowed was too much to overcome. And as a result, defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo — and a handful of other assistants — paid the price.
On Monday afternoon, just hours after it was announced that Anarumo was being relieved of his duties after six seasons in Cincinnati, Bengals head coach Zac Taylor stepped up to the mic and spoke from the heart about the decision, while reiterating on four separate occasions that making the decision to fire Lou Anarumo was not one he took lightly.
“As you guys probably saw, we made a couple of coaching changes today. [I] do not take that lightly,” Taylor said, per Myles Simmons of Pro Football Talk. “Those were extremely hard moves for me to make. Those are all men that I have a ton of respect for, been through really high, exciting times with, and do not take those decisions lightly. And appreciate all that those guys brought to the table because they’re like brothers to me, they worked hard every single day.”
As for the why in all of this, Zac Taylor offered this explanation:
“Just felt like we needed a change. And, again, did not take that decision lightly,” Taylor said. “Lou’s been doing this for six years here and the success we’ve had, he’s been a big reason why we’ve had a lot of the success. So, again, I don’t take this lightly. I put a lot of thought in it. It’s not an easy day for any of us. And just felt like we need to perform better as a football team.”
While Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins and co. made the headlines during Cincinnati’s run to the Super Bowl a few years back, it was Anarumo’s defense that performed at a championship level throughout the entirety of the postseason. Consider, in Cincinnati’s four postseason games in the 2021-22 NFL Playoffs, they held the Raiders, Titans, Chiefs and Rams to just 21 points per game.
This was not the case throughout the 2024 regular season, as the Bengals lost four games in which the offense scored at least 30 points.
Lou Anarumo was a finalist for the Arizona Cardinals head coaching job back in 2023, and he certainly won’t have to wait too long before finding another job during this cycle. Assuming he doesn’t pursue a head coaching job, it would be reasonable to expect that Anarumo would be a candidate to fill the empty seats left behind by guys like Aaron Glenn (Detroit), Brian Flores (Minnesota), Anthony Weaver (Miami), or any other open defensive coordinators jobs for that matter.
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