When Jay Gruden was hired by the Redskins as their head coach last week, the Bengals acted quickly to promote Hue Jackson to replace him as offensive coordinator.
They’ve acted just as quickly now that defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer has taken the Vikings head coaching job. Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that the team will promote linebackers coach Paul Guenther to run the defense with Zimmer gone.
Guenther was considered a possibility to join Gruden or Zimmer in their new ports of call, but Cincinnati moved fast enough to ensure that never had a chance to happen. Guenther joined the Bengals staff in 2005 and 2013 was his second year as the team’s linebackers coach after several years as an assistant special teams and linebackers coach.
As with Jackson’s ascension on the offense, promoting Guenther guarantees the Bengals some continuity with a team that’s made the playoffs each of the last three seasons. The defense has been strong in each of those seasons and there’s not much reason to think that will change dramatically with Guenther keeping the fire Zimmer set burning in 2014.
[Photo credit: Bengals.com]