Bengals promote Paul Guenther to Defensive Coordinator

In light of the news that Mike Zimmer has become the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings, the Cincinnati Bengals have promoted linebackers coach Paul Guenther to be their defensive coordinator to replace him.  Guenther had been drawing interest from a few teams for the same position, but has opted to take the lead of an impressive Bengals defense.

The Bengals have had time to prepare for this as Zimmer had been considered a head coaching candidate for a few seasons, so this was not a huge surprise.  Guenther has had time to prepare for the role under Zimmer.  He inherits a defense that was able to get to the playoffs and play well despite missing defensive tackle Geno Atkins and cornerback Leon Hall.  Atkins is the best player on the roster and they were extremely thin in the secondary without Hall.

Guenther will be tasked with trying to get that defense to maintain their level of excellence as they hope to not only get to the playoffs next season, but win their first playoff game in five tries under head coach Marvin Lewis.