Bengals Hire Former Bears, Eagles Defensive Coordinator to 2025 Coaching Staff

Cincinnati's defense has floundered the last two seasons.

Sean Desai in 2021. / Jon Durr-Imagn Images

The Cincinnati Bengals need all the help they can get to improve their defense after a poor showing in 2024.

Accordingly, the Bengals are reportedly beefing up their defensive staff. Cincinnati is hiring former Chicago Bears and Philadelphia Eagles defensive coordinator Sean Desai as a senior defensive assistant, according to a Monday afternoon report from Tom Pelissero of NFL Network.

Desai, 41, spent 2024 with the Los Angeles Rams in a similar role.

That stint followed a one-year tour of duty with the Eagles in 2023—a disaster that saw Philadelphia finish 30th in scoring defense, its lowest rank in history. More productive for Desai was his seaosn with the Bears in 2021, in which Chicago finished sixth in scoring defense.

The #Bengals are hiring Sean Desai as senior defensive assistant, per source.

Desai — the former #Bears and #Eagles DC — played a key role with the #Rams’ game planning last year. Now headed to Cincinnati. pic.twitter.com/kadZo9lGZa

— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) February 24, 2025

Desai will be charged with improving a unit that has finished in the bottom quadrant of the league in total defense two years in a row. In part due to its defensive struggles, the Bengals have finished 9-8 in back-to-back seasons despite continuing fantastic play from quarterback Joe Burrow.

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