In what no doubt is foreshadowing for the rest of the offseason, defense dominated Bengals head coach Zac Taylor’s end-of-year news conference Monday at Paycor Stadium.

In the wake of the defense’s solid eight-game run to finish the season, Taylor confirmed that defensive coordinator Al Golden and his staff returns for a second season. Taylor not only anticipates a smoother, quicker transition into the draft season with director of player personnel Duke Tobin’s staff on that side of the ball, but also into the spring voluntary workouts with the players.

Golden, who didn’t get hired until Jan. 23 after Notre Dame’s loss to Ohio State in the national championship game, saw his unit hold foes to 17.8 points per game following the bye at the nine-game mark.

“Now you have a much cleaner operation where we got a chance, OK, we’ve coached these guys that are here. Where can we get better?” Taylor said. “That process is going to happen so much sooner to where we get with the scouting department and make all the decisions we’ve got to make on improving our team schematically and personnel-wise.

“It’s going to help we’ve had this whole staff here together going into our second year on the defensive side of the ball. That helps every time we talk about personnel,” Taylor said. “That’s working with the scouts, working with Duke. Everyone has a better feel for each other.”

Taylor noted the growth of a defense that in the final stretch was playing without their highest-paid player, injured NFL sack champion Trey Hendrickson, and rode the play of emerging edge rusher Myles Murphy, starting cornerbacks DJ Turner II and Dax Hill, and safety Jordan Battle, who led all NFL defensive backs in tackles.

“More guys got opportunity and their reps increased,” Taylor said of the Hendrickson injury. “I saw growth in their game. That really helped us. And so for me, you look at defensively some missed tackles, some missed opportunities early on, and then those guys kept playing. Young players kept playing. They kept improving over and over. And the game slowed down for them and their communication sped up.

“Their ability to create plays on the ball and create turnovers sped up. So you saw that evolution over time. That’s what’s encouraging to me. I saw the growth in that entire unit. Seeing the trajectory that they’re on, I’ve got high expectations for that group moving forward.”

The Bengals ended the season with 12 turnovers in the eight weeks after the bye, tied for third most in the league in that stretch.