The Bengals have promoted QB coach Dan Pitcher to offensive coordinator.
This decision comes after their previous offensive coordinator, Brian Callahan, left to become the new head coach of the Tennessee Titans.
Pitcher first joined the Bengals in 2016 as an offensive assistant on the staff of former head coach Marvin Lewis. He was one of the holdovers from the old regime, sticking around on the staff under Zac Taylor. When Taylor was brought in prior to the 2019 season, Pitcher became the assistant QB coach, before serving as the QB coach from 2020 to this past season, taking over for Alex Van Pelt.
Pitcher is well respected around the league, and the Bengals reportedly gave him a pay raise last year to keep him around. He was always the ideal candidate to replace Callahan, once he got a head coaching job. However, that wasn’t a guarantee to happen, as Pitcher did have a lot of interest from other teams. Further, with Zac Taylor calling the plays in Cincinnati, an offer to call plays for someone else might have been enough to lure him away. As due diligence, the Bengals did interview former Seahawks OL coach Andy Dickerson for the offensive coordinator position. But in the end, Pitcher will be sticking around in Cincinnati.
With Pitcher’s promotion, the Bengals now have an opening at the QB coach position, unless Pitcher retains this role in addition to his new duties. However, this isn’t something I would expect to be the case. In the near future, the Bengals may be conducting interviews to fill the position.