AFC North Rival Attempting to Replicate Ravens' Success

The Baltimore Ravens have generally been one of the NFL's more successful teams throughout their history, so naturally other teams would eventually want to emulate that success.

In fact, it seems one of the copycats may even be in the division. Well, at least in one very specific way.

In a recent article with his fellow AFC North writers, Paul Dehner Jr., who covers the Cincinnati Bengals for The Athletic, drew parallels between the team's recent hire of defensive coordinator Al Golden and the Ravens' hire of Mike Macdonald back in 2022.

"The Bengals hope to replicate the Mike MacDonald effect, pulling Al Golden back to the NFL from the college ranks to find stability," Dehner Jr. wrote. "I think his presence alone can help. If it does, that puts the Bengals in the same upper tier with the Ravens, who played two of the most tightly contested games you’ll see that swung the path of the division last year."

After moving on from Don "Wink" Martindale, the Ravens brought back Macdonald, who had previously been an assistant on John Harbaugh's staff and led one of the country's best defenses at Michigan in 2021, back as their new defensive coordinator.

That proved to be an outstanding decision, as the Ravens' defense was consistently one of the league's better units throughout Macdonald's tenure. In 2023, the Ravens led the league in both scoring defense and takeaways.

Last offseason, Macdonald left the Ravens to become head coach of the Seattle Seahawks. Baltimore promoted Zach Orr to take his place.

There are indeed some parallels in these two hires. The defense Golden led at Notre Dame last season was also one of the best in the country, as the Fighting Irish ranked fourth in scoring and passing defense. He began to receive serious NFL interest during Notre Dame's run to the national championship game, and sure enough, Cincinnati came calling.

The Bengals' defense was a mess last season, as they ranked 25th in both points and yards allowed. Golden should help the unit improve, but it's not like the Bengals need to have one of the league's best defenses. With Joe Burrow, Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins dominating on offense, the Bengals would be an extremely scary team with just an average defense.

Will it be enough to knock the Ravens off their perch atop the AFC North, though? We'll just have to wait and see.