Cincinnati Bengals defensive coordinator Paul Guenther has admitted that his side need to improve on defense to break their playoff duck under head coach Marvin Lewis.
The Bengals reached the post-season for the third time in as many years in the 2013 campaign, but crashed out for the third successive season in the wildcard round as they lost at home to the San Diego Chargers.
"It's more so the veteran players that have been here and been through the last three years and the playoffs saying, 'Hey, we need to step it up. We need to take ownership of what we're doing here, too,'" Guenther told the club's official website.
"We didn't play well enough against San Diego to beat them. There are no excuses about that. We didn't play good enough on defense."
Guenther was promoted from linebackers coach to defensive coordinator in the off-season following the departure of Mike Zimmer.
