The Cincinnati Bengals made a major move after they failed to make the playoffs by parting ways with defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo. The move came as a surprise to some, including Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, who faced off against Anarumo on multiple occasions over the past six seasons.
During a recent episode of his New Heights podcast, Kelce made it clear that he thinks the Bengals might have made a mistake by moving on from Anarumo.
Travis, Jason Kelce question Cincinnati's decision to fire Lou Anarumo
"I don't know what the f--k is going on over there," Travis said. "That was a wild, wild move I did not see coming, because I thought that, from the outside, their defense was playing really f--king good toward the end of the year. ... I've always respected the hell out of him."
Travis' brother, Jason, agreed that the move was surprising, and placed the blame for Cincinnati's poor defensive performance in '24 on the personnel, as opposed to the coaching.
"They definitely played better," Jason said. "I don't think they had the horses on defense that they've had in the past and Lou got handcuffed. I don't know that it made sense. He's proven how good of a defensive coordinator he is with good players."
It's always tough to tell how much blame should go to players and how much falls on coaching, but in Cincinnati they clearly felt like it was time to go in a different direction on the defensive side of the ball.
Meanwhile, while Kelce questioned Cincinnati's decision to fire Anarumo, he also paid the Bengals a major complement by saying that they were much better than their final record showed.
"That was one of the wackiest years of football I've ever seen from a team that I thought was 10 times better than what their record showed," Kelce said. "I know that just playing against them."
The Bengals definitely were better than their record indicated, especially by the end of the season. But, they started slow, again, and that ended up dooming them. Had they gotten off to a better start, they would probably be preparing for the playoffs right now, and Anarumo would still have his job.