Bengals: Zac Taylor is the second-most likely NFL coach to get fired

The Cincinnati Bengals have not been able to find much success in the Zac Taylor era. And that’s probably an understatement.

Taylor was hired in February of 2019 after the franchise moved on from longtime head coach Marvin Lewis. The hope was that Taylor would be able to drag the organization out the depths of mediocrity that they had settled into.

Unfortunately, that hasn’t quite happened.

Now, Taylor finds himself firmly on the hot seat entering the 2021 season. And according to SportsLine, the 38-year-old is currently the second most likely head coach to be fired this year.

The Cincinnati Bengals could fire Zac Taylor mid-season

The only coach with better odds to be fired first is Denver Broncos head coach Vic Fangio. Taylor is tied with Chicago Bears head coach Matt Nagy and just ahead of Minnesota Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer as the likeliest head coach to be fired this season.

And it’s hard to argue with those odds.

Taylor took over a Bengals team that had finished 6-10 the year before and lost his first 11 games with the franchise before beating the lowly NY Jets for his first win as a head coach.

The Bengals would finish the year 2-14 as the Andy Dalton era came to a disappointing end. Fortunately, their poor finish allowed them to land Joe Burrow in the 2020 NFL Draft.

Burrow showed promise as a rookie before a devastating knee injury ending his season prematurely. Still, even when Burrow was healthy, Cincinnati was only just 2-7-1 with their young QB.

The Bengals would go on to finish 4-11-1 limping to another last-place finish in the AFC North. Now entering the 2021 season, Taylor is under immense pressure to show significant improvement.

Competing in a tough AFC North, that might prove challenging. If things go south quickly, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Taylor fired in the middle of the season.

To save his job, he’ll likely have to captain the Bengals closer to a .500 record. With a healthy Joe Burrow, a rejuvenated Joe Mixon, and a rich wide receiver corps, there’s little excuse for Taylor’s offense not to be significantly better.

Zac Taylor is firmly on the hot seat entering this season.