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Rex Ryan Helpfully Lets Bengals Know They Can't Afford Him After Latest Loss

'Get Up' voice weighs in on Bengals' defensive problems.

Kyle Koster

Rex Ryan has jokes after Bengals' defensive meltdown.
Rex Ryan has jokes after Bengals' defensive meltdown. / Get Up on X
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Joe Flacco had a career day on Sunday, which is saying something because his career has spanned longer than most. The Bengals quarterback threw for 470 yards and four touchdowns on Sunday against the Bears but it didn't matter because his colleagues on the Cincinnati defense surrendered 47 points and couldn't preserve a late lead.

This type of porous defensive effort has been a major problem ever since Joe Burrow led the franchise to a Super Bowl and it famously neutered an MVP-caliber season from the franchise quarterback last year to the point Cincinnati had to observe the playoffs from afar.

It doesn't appear like the club is any closer to a fix as the 300 points surrendered by the Bengals through nine games is a franchise-high.

Get Up asked what the reason was for the Bengals' poor performance on their Monday show in the wake of yet another dysfunctional loss. That gave Rex Ryan the opportunity to include himself among a group of esteemed defensive minds who will not be riding into town and fixing the Bengals' problems.

"They got rid of a highly respected defensive coordinator in Lou Anarumo," Ryan said. "So who are you going to bring in there? Buddy Ryan? Bill Belichick? Me? You ain't gonna afford me."

Right now that responsibility has been in defensive coordinator Al Golden's hands. It's not going well, as the historic bad start to the year suggests. It's tough to imagine he'll get a second year of trying to turn things around unless there's some marked improvement.

There's no indication the Bengals would be interested in Ryan's services but he's a thoughtful guy. Doesn't want them to waste their time calling if they don't back it up with a big paycheck.

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Kyle Koster
KYLE KOSTER

Kyle Koster is an assistant managing editor at Sports Illustrated covering the intersection of sports and media. He was formerly the editor in chief of The Big Lead, where he worked from 2011 to '24. Koster also did turns at the Chicago Sun-Times, where he created the Sports Pros(e) blog, and at Woven Digital.

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