Bengals Cornerbacks Coach Chuck Burks Takes Responsibility For Struggles in Secondary

The Bengals have struggled on defense this season.

Charles Burks / Photo Via Cincinnati Bengals

“As a competitor, regardless of the record, you want to go out and compete and put your best foot forward, period.”

Chuck Burks, Cincinnati’s cornerback’s coach did not shy away or get defensive when he sat down BengalsTalk.com about the issues that have plagued the Bengals defense in 2024. As accountability for the 4-8 team as a whole has come into question, Burks stepped up and took accountability for his position group.

“The tape is everybody’s resume and the tape does not lie,” Burks said. “As a coach, if my group isn’t tacking well, then I put the onus on me, and that’s my fault. What can I do as a coach to fix that? Same for players: the tape is your resume, and the tape will follow you for the rest of your career. The tape will follow myself for the rest of my career because at some point I have to answer for it. I have to be accountable for it and I have to be honest about it, which I have no fear about that at all. I don’t really give a damn where I am at, I’m going to go coach and be accountable to it, and it is what it is.”

Burks has an impressive resume, most notably spending three seasons under Brian Flores with the Miami Dolphins working primarily with the cornerbacks unit in 2020. That year the Dolphins won 10 games for the first time since 2016. Miami’s defense led the NFL in takeaways (29) and third-down defense (31.2 pct.) while finishing sixth in scoring (21.1 points allowed per game).

“He (Brian Flores) got the most out of everybody he came in contact with,” Burks said. “Very demanding, very detailed, very clear direction, you knew exactly what you were supposed to do at a very high standard and that’s something I took with me.”

Burks was hired in Cincinnati ahead of the 2022 season, the last time the Bengals had a shot at an AFC Championship. His position group especially got younger, and the loss of veterans has been a major contributor to 2022’s defense and Cincinnati’s current defense. 

“When you have guys like DJ Reader's, the Jessie Bates', those guys are elite players,” Burks said. “When I came here it was a very veteran led defense with some top end elite players. I would say that’s the biggest difference. This year you have more of a younger group, but at the end of the day like I said earlier, regardless of two years ago to what you have now, you have to adapt and adjust to what you have.”

Dax Hill won the starting job in camp after making the position switch from safety. Just as he looked poised to take the next step in his career, he was taken out by an ACL injury in the first quarter of Cincinnati’s 41-38 overtime loss to the Baltimore Ravens in Week 5. 

The football Gods wreaked havoc on Cincinnati’s secondary when promising young cornerback DJ Turner II suffered a season-ending clavicle injury in Week 11. Turner had emerged as a key starter for the Bengals defense. 

“It’s a gut punch,” Burks told BengalsTalk.com. “You’re seeing the growth, you’re seeing them going in the right direction, you’re seeing the passion, confidence, swagger, and its gone.”

Down two playmakers, adversity has continued to hit this group.

Cam Taylor-Britt has had a roller coaster of a season that started in week four against Carolina. The third-year cornerback had one of the worst outings of his young career. Andy Dalton targeted him six times and Taylor-Britt gave up five catches for 84 yards and a touchdown. He was benched. 

“I put myself in that situation,” Taylor-Britt said after being asked about his in-game benching. “I’m my biggest critic. I just have to come back here, and I’m going to work,”“I put myself in that situation. I’m my biggest critic. I just have to come back here, and I’m going to work. 

The next seven weeks would show ups and downs for Taylor-Britt, but in Week 11 he was benched again, this time against the LA Chargers.

“Part of the reason of pulling a player is preventing them from hurting themselves even more,” Burks said. “Confidence is everything at that position. When you make a decision like that it gives them a chance to take a step back, breathe a little bit, compose themselves, and then go back and operate in the game.”

Fifth-round draft pick Josh Newton was then responsible for Taylor-Britt’s assignments, and the rookie shined without hesitation, showing promise for the future. Pro Football Focus rated Newton as the Bengals' second-best defensive player against the Chargers that week. 

“It was unexpected, you went in, you made a play, and they came back at you later in the game and you made another play,” Burks said of Newton. “This next game he goes against (George) Pickens, and they make a play on him and it is what it is. There’s not been a time where he has been down on himself or negative with himself, he stood up to every challenge that has been thrown at him.”

Newton is still young and has a journey of growth and development ahead of him but he could very well emerge as a future leader of Cincinnati’s defense.

“Long story short, I think this kid definitely has the gift of innate leadership ability,” Burks said.  “I think whenever he talks, people listen. He’s passionate, his words are meaningful, and people kind of gravitate to him because of that.”

In a year where Cincinnati’s quarterback Joe Burrow is having an MVP caliber season from a number standpoint, and being named the AFC’s Offensive Player of the Month for November, the 4-8 record falls heavily on Cincinnati’s defensive struggles. 

Tackling has been a glaring issue that was noticeable in week one and had only continued throughout the season. Being a team who is known as a poor tackling team eat at Burks daily.

“I think the mark of a good defense is how well you tackle,” Burks said. “There’s never been a good defense that is poor at tackling. You just can’t have that, right? So it is definitely something that has hindered us throughout the year, it’s something that you have to continue to work at, continue to preach. There’s technique to it, there’s entry angles, approach the angles but at the end of the day its a mindset and it’s a mentality and we just simply have to do better.”

Coaches aren’t tiptoeing around feelings with their players when it comes to the tackling topic that won’t go away. 

“It’s never going to be a comfortable conversation but its the truth. It’s one thing, me saying it, but everybody watches the same film,” Burks said. “At that point you have to look at it, have a conversation with yourself and if that conversation starts with some truth, the next thing you say is, ‘how can I get it better’? The only way to get it better is to get in practice, get in the grass and work on it. From a mindset standpoint understand that NFL defenses, great defenses around the world, tackling is just part of your identity.”

The Cincinnati Bengals have five weeks left to improve their resume tape and their next game put them in the primetime spotlight against the Dallas Cowboys on Monday Night Football.

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