CINCINNATI — ESPN's Ben Solak dropped 100 takes on Monday with 100 days to go until the 2025 NFL season and Bengals defensive coordinator Al Golden was one of his names to know.
Cincinnati is relying on Golden to do a ton of heavy lifting for defensive improvement this coming season.
"Imagine last season's Bengals with a league-average defense," Solak wrote. "That's not just a playoff team. That's a team that could have beaten the Ravens, Bills, Chiefs, or any other AFC contender in any playoff environment. The Bengals' defensive depth chart remains a substantial impediment to their ascension to league average—but outgoing coordinator Lou Anarumo ran a system renowned for its complexity and need for quality communication, something that many young defenders in Cincinnati struggled to grasp.
"Could Golden, who just worked with young players for three years at Notre Dame, offer a quick boost to early draft picks like Dax Hill or Myles Murphy by simplifying their roles? I'm not betting on a big leap in the Bengals' defense, but it is at least in the cards."
Golden could be the skeleton key for a Super Bowl run this coming season, or bear the brunt of the blame for continued flailing defense.
We know what Joe Burrow and the Bengals' offense are going to bring to the table, and they'll be right in the mix of NFL contention if Golden can live up to his billing and get Cincinnati back to respectable defense for the first time since their 2022 AFC Championship game run.
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