Zac Taylor doesn’t think any team wants to play the Bengals

Two years ago, every NFL team would have wanted to play the Cincinnati Bengals. Now, Zac Taylor believes his team is a true force to be reckoned with.

Following a heartbreaking loss to the 49ers in Week 14, Taylor conveyed shameless pride in Cincinnati along with the billowing hope that the Bengals would make it to the postseason.

The 7-6 Bengals sit third in the AFC North with the Cleveland Browns beating them in the head-to-head tiebreaker.

There are too many scenarios to calculate in which the Bengals could gain a postseason berth, given the current see-sawing state of their division.

Taylor, however, is almost arrogantly sure that his team will find success in this last stretch of the 2021 season.

He told Kelsey Conway of the Cincinnati Enquirer:

"“I don’t think anybody wants to play us, quite frankly. And we haven’t won all the games that we felt like we should’ve won. But I think our guys have a ton of confidence, and people see what they’re about, see the talent we’ve got in all three phases, and see that we’re going to fight to the last second.”"

Team in the AFC North certainly may not want to play the Bengals.

Cincinnati holds a 3-1 record in the division, with their sole loss handed to them by the Cleveland Browns.

Cincinnati Bengals’ Zac Taylor knows how good his team is in 2021

Other than that fluke blowout, the Bengals crushed the Ravens 41-17 and then won the series against Pittsburgh with two dominant victories.

Against other NFL teams, Cincinnati don’t have the best record.

They lost to the lowly Bears and Jets, and most recently, fell to playoff contenders like the Los Angeles Chargers and San Francisco 49ers.

Since 2018, the Bengals are 1-7 against teams with seven-plus wins entering the game. Their Week 16 game against the Ravens could be the matchup that determines the AFC North division champion, and it’s difficult to say who will come out on top.

Both the Bengals and Ravens have lost to bad teams and won against good teams.

Week 14’s overtime defeat to San Francisco marked the Bengals’ fourth defeat of three points this season, and while the 49ers could hardly be called a “bad” team, Cincinnati had their chance to win it in overtime.

Taylor and his team need to quickly adapt a close-out mentality and take care of business for these last four games, starting with the Denver Broncos in Week 15.

Taylor can believe Cincinnati has postseason mettle long until the cows come home, but the team’s results need to prove it.