Vance Joseph expected to become candidate for Bengals’ DC if fired, per report

When the writing is on the wall, sometimes it’s in size 1000 font and in bright red ink.

Amidst all the (supposed) uncertainty regarding the future of the Bengals’ franchise, a former assistant under Marvin Lewis — who worked his way up to becoming an unsuccessful head coach — is reportedly going to be fired and subsequently become a candidate to fill a vacancy on the Bengals’ coaching staff. Where have we heard that before?

Current Broncos’ head coach Vance Joseph is all but out as the guy in Denver, and per Adam Schefter, the Bengals’ vacant defensive coordinator spot could be his to fill.

The prospect of Joseph taking over as defensive coordinator makes sense in a vacuum, after all, he was the defensive backs coach for the Bengals through in 2014 and 2015 when Dre Kirkpatrick, Shawn Williams emerged as solid players and Adam Jones peaked in his career. He took the Dolphins’ defensive coordinator job for one season in 2016 when they went 10-6, but Joseph’s unit was far from exceptional.

Nevertheless, the Broncos offered him the head coaching gig in the 2017 offseason and he took it. As a result, he’s likely going to finish his stint with Denver with no greater than 13 wins in two seasons.

Joseph displayed the incompetence of leading an NFL team perfectly when the Browns came into Mile High Stadium and wiped out their playoff chances thanks to passive decision-making in the final minutes, something Bengals’ fans can all relate too. But, he did defeat the Bengals at home in their latest meeting.

If Joseph is a candidate to join the Bengals’ staff with two games left to play in the regular season, then it all but confirms that the team knows who will be their head coach in 2019. Almost always does a brand new head coach from outside of the organization hire his own staff, so if the Bengals are considering bringing back former coaches under Marvin Lewis, it’s safe to say they’ve made up their minds about Lewis’ future.

And even if Lewis decides to leave, this would likely mean that Hue Jackson would take his place, as he has also worked with Joseph on Lewis’ staff when he was here.

Plans seem to have been set in motion for the Bengals this offseason, and nothing about it seems promising.