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When you start a season without scoring a touchdown in two consecutive home games, something that hasn’t been done since 1939, you can definitely land on the hot seat. That’s exactly the case for Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator Ken Zampese, who is officially without a job as of today.
From the ESPN article:
The Bengals said quarterbacks coach Bill Lazor will immediately assume coordinator duties in place of Zampese, who was with the Bengals for 15 seasons; he started as their quarterbacks coach before being promoted to offensive coordinator last season.
“Ken Zampese has done a tremendous job for us for my 15 years here, and I have the utmost respect for Ken as a person and as a coach,” coach Marvin Lewis said in a statement. “But I feel it best for the football team to breathe new life into the offense, and that’s why I am making the change.
“Bill Lazor has great experience in the league and as a coordinator, and I feel Bill can progress our offense the way we need. We have a lot of talent on offense, and we need to keep working to take full advantage of the personnel we have.”
Lazor started his coaching career with Cornell University where he played quarterback and set 26 passing and offensive school records. He made the move to the NFL as the offensive quality control coach for the Atlanta Falcons in 2003. He then bounced around as a quarterbacks coach for the Washington Redskins, Seattle Seahawks and Philadelphia Eagles for several seasons until finally getting a shot to call plays as the Miami Dolphins offensive coordinator in 2014-15. The Dolphins finished 14th and 26th in total offense those two seasons.
He was hired by the Bengals to be their quarterbacks coach last season, and now looks to turn around an offense that is not where they expected to be. Though, not all the fault can be placed at the blame of the coaches. The Bengals lost Pro Bowl offensive lineman Andrew Whitworth and another solid starter in Kevin Zeitler to free agency, and invested in young, promising skill-position talent in John Ross and Joe Mixon early in the 2017 NFL Draft.
Mixon has looked like the superior back of their backfield so far, and Ross is a lightning bolt that can take the top off of any defense but has been nursing an injury. Lazor will likely find a way to get these players more involved, and the Bengals offense will flourish as a result.
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