Bengals fans are not shy about their skepticism (to use a nice word) about head coach Zac Taylor. It’s already been put on a billboard for all to see:
And there are good reasons for so much of the frustration. This team has all of the talent (offensively anyways) to be one of the most dangerous teams in the league. We’ve seen evidence of that in a recent Super Bowl appearance and then a subsequent near-return the following season. After that, though, it’s been nothing but injuries, poor play, and falling well short of expectations.
Cincinnati faithful have been wondering for years just what it would take to see the departure of Zac Taylor, as well as front office head Duke Tobin. Perhaps this year might have been it, with yet another playoff absence, and Joe Burrow seemingly more dejected than ever before.
Not so fast my friend.
As Dianna Russini reported recently Zac Taylor doesn’t just have the support of ownership but of the core of the Bengals best players:
“Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow has been a consistent voice of support for coach Zac Taylor within the organization, as have receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins.”
She also reported that Taylor’s job “appears to be safe” despite the team’s recent underachievement.
If this reporting is accurate, Bengals fans can forget about any chance that Zac Taylor will be gone anytime soon. And to be fair, if he does have that level of support from his star players, then perhaps they know something we outsiders do not. They are the ones with their money, their reputations, and their NFL futures directly invested in Taylor and if they are behind him then it says something about what is going on behind closed doors.
That may change in the future of course, but for now Cincinnati will almost undoubtedly run it back in 2026 with him at the helm. And if that is what players like Burrow and Chase want then perhaps we should trust them because multiple things can be true at once.
The product on the field has been bad. But the offense, under Taylor’s supervision, has excelled with our stars as the supporting cast. So it’s no surprise they would line up to stand behind their coach when things get dicey. And then there are Burrow’s injuries to take into account, something Taylor has no control over, but have nonetheless derailed several of the past few seasons. So it appears that his players believe in his system and his abilities as a coach and that fact, combined with the franchise’s overall reluctance to fire coaches under contract mean that this is one coach that won’t have to worry come Black Monday, for better or worse.
