In a move sure to please the Bengals fanbase and quite possibly its starting quarterback, Cincinnati fired offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski on Monday according to ESPN’s Chris Mortensen.
The timing of the move is a surprise. Bratkowski was with the Bengals coaching staff in Mobile last week. (We joked that the performance of his North squad offense reminded us of the ’10 Bengals.)
Beyond that odd situation, coach Marvin Lewis said last week that there would be “minimal” offensive changes to the coaching staff and that he didn’t want to completely rebuild a new offensive system from scratch.
One option to avoid a complete overhaul would be to promote Ken Zampese, the team’s quarterbacks coach. Joe Reedy of the Cincinnati Enquirer notes that Bratkowski called plays for the North team in their dreadful first half, while Zampese took over after halftime. [UPDATE: The Bengals dispute that Zampese called any plays in the Senior Bowl. The Enquirer has since deleted that portion of the story and confirmed Bratkowski called all the plays.]
It’s possible that Bratkowski is ultimately a victim of Carson Palmer’s trade request. Reedy had a quote from an offensive player last week that said discipline was lacking on offense where Bratkowski and Lewis are in charge. (On defense, coordinator Mike Zimmer reportedly runs a tighter ship.)
Bratkowski is the only offensive coordinator Palmer has ever played under.
