It’s Time To Shorten Zac Taylor’s Long Leash
Credit: Katie Stratman-Imagn Images
The Cincinnati Bengals did the most Bengals thing ever in December and January – won out to go from 4-8 to 9-8, barely miss the playoffs, and tank the draft position that was going to be the silver lining in an awful season.
This happened while we fans all sat every Sunday in December, quoting Lloyd Christmas’ classic line, “So you’re saying there’s a chance.” Nope, they had a fart’s chance in a windstorm. They had a measles and typhoid-ridden family of making it to the end of “Oregon Trail.”
When the season ended, the reactions from the fan base felt all too familiar. Who Dey Nation was excited for next year after seeing Joe Burrow play lights-out football for 18 futile weeks and almost dragging Cincinnati to the playoffs. And hey, they had the NFL’s Triple Crown winner at wide receiver and the league leader in sacks on the same team. Why not be optimistic about next year?
Well, I hate to break it to you, but… did you see what happened this year?
Sure, the Bengals had all that, and it didn’t matter one bit. Last year, it was easy to say that Burrow was hurt and that the season didn’t count. It sure helped me sleep comfortably at night in my Bengals adult onesie. What do you say now? There were simply no excuses.
The ownership and “powers that be” finally have made some changes once the season officially ended, but were they the right changes? I’m OK with scapegoating Lou Anarumo, but why did Cincinnati stop there?
Travis and Jason Kelce on the Lou Anarumo firing:
“I don't know what the f–k is going on over there.”
“I don't think they had the horses on defense that they've had in the past and Lou got handcuffed…He's proven how good of a DC he is with good players.”
🎥: @newheightshow pic.twitter.com/sC5TD2U8R6
— Noah Compton (@nerlens_) January 20, 2025
At the end of the day, Zac Taylor’s coaching record with Cincinnati is 46-52-1. Look, I understand it was cool to hear Burrow say the Super Bowl window in Cincinnati is his entire career, but it’s not. The Bengals only have so much time to get a Lombardi Trophy, and they can’t afford to waste season after season.
It’s winter, and some of you fancy people are rocking the heated seats in your cars, but the hottest seat in Cincinnati has to be in Taylor’s office.
Lifelong Bengals fans are going to line up to defend Taylor. They’ll point out that Mike Brown had Marvin Lewis in the position for 16 years with zero playoff wins before moving on, while Taylor took the team to a Super Bowl. Fine, I guess, valid point. But the stakes are much higher now.
No one talks decades later about how a coach wasted someone like Andy Dalton’s prime. Doing the same thing with a No. 1 overall pick is a different matter. See: “Palmer, Carson.”
You can call me a hater, and sure, I think Taylor’s seat should’ve been hot entering the season, and that the team should have seriously considered Mike Vrabel or Bill Belichick when they were available. Maybe I’m jumping the gun – that was certainly the case for those calling for Ryan Day to sweat on his chair at Ohio State.
So while I’m not going to sit here and call for Taylor’s job after that season-ending win streak, the Bengals simply can not get off to a slow start next season, and if they do? It’s gotta be time. Bengals fans can’t rationalize it by saying “That’s just what they do” anymore! There are no free passes anymore, especially when Taylor’s play-calling has also been shaky at times. The recent coaching shake-up is promising, but we’ll find out pretty quickly next season whether or not it was truly enough.
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