The Cincinnati Bengals had to be quite happy and relieved to bid adieu to Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh this offseason. That is, until Baltimore bounced back by hiring one of the most lauded defensive minds in all of football, Jesse Minter.
As the defensive coordinator for Jim Harbaugh's Los Angeles Chargers the past couple years, the 42-year-old Minter has coached up a young defense and helped them overachieve by all accounts.
But that doesn't mean Minter is guaranteed that same success in the AFC North. He'll need to embrace the challenge of facing Joe Burrow, Ja'Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, and the Bengals' offense twice a season.
Minter faced the Bengals once during his time with the Bolts. Prior to the game, he waxed poetic about Cincinnati's Big Three — and his concerns about stopping them manifested on game day.
Ravens head coach Jesse Minter may want to rest up while he can before facing the Bengals two times a year
A facetious subheading there. I'm just going off of what Minter said prior to matching up with Cincinnati in Week 11 of the 2024 campaign.
DC Jesse Minter on preparing for the Bengals offense: “Sleepless nights.” pic.twitter.com/6b84a5Ppqd
— Kris Rhim (@krisrhim1) November 14, 2024
In addition to that interesting one-liner, Minter stated how much respect he has for Burrow, the Bengals' coaching staff, and Zac Taylor's ability to call plays whilst heaping praise on Joe Shiesty, Chase, and Higgins in quick succession, via FOX19's Charlie Goldsmith:
"[Chase] has the ability to take the bubble and go 70, catch the dig over the middle, split the defense and go 70, the ability to take the top off the defense and go 70. [...] Joe Burrow is in complete control. He has a really good understanding of how you’re trying to play him. He sees coverage really well. Not a whole lot of trickems going on with Joe. He’s such an elite quarterback. [...] [Higgins is] a matchup problem...big body, slants, digs, runs all the routes. You want to roll the coverage over here (Chase)? Oh we got him over there."
Bill Belichick used to love to be hyperbolic in his kind words for opponents before proceeding to destroy them on the field. This wasn't that from Minter. He knew how lethal the Bengals are with a healthy Burrow in MVP form.
Minter's Chargers raced out to a 27-6 lead by the early third quarter of that Sunday Night Football showdown, only to watch Joe Brrr inject ice into his veins in LA to tie the ballgame at 27.
Unfortunately for the Bengals, their defense let them down in a 34-27 loss, as that unit has done far too often in the past couple years in particular. Burned a game in which Burrow threw for 356 yards and three TDs. Amazing how that keeps happening. When is enough enough?
Maybe there's hope for Cincinnati with Minter leading the Ravens...in a bizarre sort of way.
Thought this was an astute observation by ESPN Radio's Lance Medow, which suggests Baltimore's hiring of Minter could signal more of the same from the Harbaugh era:
Minter was on John Harbaugh's staff for 4 sea from 2017-2020 serving as a defensive asst (2017-18), asst DBs coach (2019) & then DBs coach (2020)
— Lance Medow (@LanceMedow) January 22, 2026
that's notable b/c he may want to keep several of Harbaugh's assistants he knows, who are still under contract & the team blocked https://t.co/7cPYNMBXpc
With some modest personnel upgrades, I'm sure Baltimore's defense will be formidable. However, Burrow carved up Minter's Chargers with the odds stacked against him. If the Bengals can improve their own defense at all, I like Burrow's chances against the new-look Ravens or anyone else in the NFL for that matter.
Plus, hiring a defensive head coach in the modern era comes with an obvious, innate risk.
Two-time MVP QB Lamar Jackson could have a revolving door of offensive coordinators if Baltimore is a perennial contender under Minter. How will Lamar fare under those circumstances? And how much longer can he bail himself out with his electrifying running ability? He turns 30 less than a year from now, and already has 1,175 carries under his belt counting the playoffs.
We'll see what the Ravens' future holds with Minter. If his prior remarks about the Bengals' biggest stars and Burrow's efficiency versus Minter's scheme are any indication, us Who Dey Heads could very well enjoy a dominant head-to-head mark versus Baltimore in the coming years.