Approval Poll: Bengals hiring Brian Callahan as offensive coordinator

Zac Taylor may still be with the Rams, but he’s already got a good chunk of his Bengals coaching staff set up.

Raiders quarters coach Brian Callahan is set to be the team’s next offensive coordinator. He has a pretty extensive history, which also includes plenty of experience with Jack Del Rio, who is expected to be Cincinnati’s defensive coordinator.

From 2010-15 he spent time on the Denver Broncos staff as an assistant coach. He became the assistant quarterbacks coach when the Broncos won Super Bowl 50, which means he also spent plenty of time learning from Peyton Manning.

More recently, Callahan was the Lions quarterbacks coach during the 2016 and 2017 seasons when Matthew Stafford saw career lows in interceptions. He didn’t post any career-high numbers during that span, but he was far more consistent than his years without Callahan. Each year, Matthew Stafford completed over 65 percent of his throws, which is something he only accomplished the year before Callahan arrived.

Last year, Callahan moved on to work under Jon Gruden in Oakland. He wasn’t able to help return Derek Carr to his 2016 form, but he did improve in completion percentage, passing yards, touchdowns and interceptions from 2017 to 2018.

Of course, Callahan’s father is Bill Callahan, who has head coaching experience with the Raiders and Nebraska. It has even been rumored that the Bengals would like to add Bill Callahan to their staff for their vacant coaching job for the offensive line, but Washington can block that move since he is under contract for the same position.

It isn’t clear (and likely won’t be until Taylor is officially announced as the head coach) whether Taylor or Brian Callahan will handle the play calling duties, as neither has experience calling plays at the professional level. That seems to be one of the only downsides to this move, but then again, we just endured Bill Lazor’s play-calling for essentially two seasons. This could be the breath of fresh air the Bengals have been looking for.