Should Bengals defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo be back in 2021?

The Bengals defense has certainly had a rollercoaster of a season.

At the end of the day, the Bengals have to have a long talk about whether Lou Anarumo deserves another shot leading this defense. The unit has had some great performances, but it has struggled to stop teams like the Texans last week and the Ravens this week en route to a record-breaking performance.

The defense came into Week 17 allowing 386 points (13th worst), just over 5,700 total yards (11th worst), over 3,700 passing yards (10th worst), over 1,900 rushing yards (eighth worst) and were also the eighth most penalized defense. It is easy to say that their very poor performance Sunday isn’t going to see any of those numbers getting any better.

The two most important performances from this season came against a Steelers team that saw Ben Roethlisberger playing like a complete mess, and only semi-containing an injured Lamar Jackson in Week 5.

The other games this defense showed up in came in games where they faced Alex Smith, Daniel Jones, Colt McCoy and Tua Tagovailoa at quarterback. Not to mention the defense has rarely stepped up late in games to help finish off close games. We saw Baker Mayfield absolutely torch this defense in Week 7 when it seemed like Joe Burrow had led a comeback drive.

The team allowing the most rushing yards in franchise history to end the season also doesn’t help his cause.

The Bengals spent plenty of their offseason capital on this defense. Players like D.J. Reader and Trae Waynes either missed most or all of the season, but players like Vonn Bell and Mackensie Alexander played almost all of the season.

Not to mention most of their draft picks went to correcting the defense as well. Losing guys like Geno Atkins hurts, but when it seems like he is also being sighted as a major reason why Carlos Dunlap felt the need to force his way out of Cincinnati, it is hard to make as many excuses.

We have seen flashes from this defense, but at some point we have to ask how much of that is the good players on this defense just going out there and being great and how much of it is actually the game plan?

The team is already getting rid of several defensive position coaches, and maybe the Bengals should consider starting fresh on that side of the ball all together,

What do you think though? Should Anarumo get another chance in 2021?