3 best Zac Taylor replacements for Bengals from exhaustive candidates list

Cincinnati Bengals fans are pretty fed up with the direction the team has gone as they careen toward a third straight season of no playoff football, and evidently, so is superstar quarterback Joe Burrow.

There's speculation flying around more than ever that Bengals head coach Zac Taylor is on the hot seat. Cincinnati doesn't change coaches lightly. Taylor's predecessor, Marvin Lewis, got three full years of runway after five consecutive one-and-done postseason exits.

So is it realistic to think Taylor could be on the way out?

Well, The MMQB's Conor Orr just dropped his annual lengthy list of head coaching candidates for the upcoming 2026 cycle. Orr mentioned therein the following compelling passage:

"Many industry eyes are on the Bengals, where there is massive curiosity about whether Cincinnati will move on from Zac Taylor. The opportunity to work with Joe Burrow is a market shifter."

Buckle up. We're about to dive into the best potential Taylor upgrades, in order of my personal preference, from the many names Orr put forth.

Best Bengals head coaching candidates from The MMQB's huge list

1. Klint Kubiak, offensive coordinator, Seattle Seahawks

It's a stone-cold no-brainer for me here. Kubiak may get detractors who scream, "NEPO BABY!" at him since he's the son of Super Bowl-winning coach Gary, but he's shown this year in particular that he can thrive on his own merits.

Having such a rich football pedigree, and achieving such raging success in Seattle this season, give Kubiak plenty of credentials for the Bengals' job. By virtue of taking after his father, Kubiak's system stems from the Mike/Kyle Shanahan vein of offensive football. That means lots of outside zone runs, pure-progression reads for the quarterback, and scheming up explosive plays.

Rather than putting all the burden on Burrow to drop back a zillion times a game, why not go nab someone like Kubiak who makes his life easier? Then there's the added bonus that Kubiak would probably nab one of the Seahawks' top assistants to be his defensive coordinator in Cincinnati.

Whatever the heck Seattle coach Mike Macdonald is cooking up for that ferocious Seahawks D in the Emerald City, I want me some of that.

Another cool dimension to this hypothetical Kubiak hiring: an inside track on marquee Seattle free agents like cornerback Riq Woolen, EDGE Boye Mafe, and safety Coby Bryant.

2. Jeff Hafley, defensive coordinator, Green Bay Packers

I totally get the instinct to go with a defensive coach hire, just for a change of pace from Taylor. Perhaps no man on the market is more in-demand than Packers DC Jeff Hafley.

Consider for a moment that Hafley went from coaching Boston College to a pivotal role for one of the NFL's most iconic franchises. Since Hafley landed in Green Bay, all the Packers have done is ball out on defense and execute some really exotic schemes.

Rather than just leaning on the natural talent of Micah Parsons, Hafley is creating all kinds of different ways to attack opponents with his best player.

Melding the minds of Burrow and Hafley could be a lethal combination for years to come. Plus, Hafley could meet Joe Brrr in the middle when it comes to scheme. Bring some of that Matt LaFleur/Shanahan system flavor with him from the Cheeseheads, but let Burrow have some say in what's in the playbook and how he operates.

Hafley would be more hands-off on shaping the offense than Kubiak, yet his perspective from the defensive side of the ball could be invaluable as Burrow hits this next phase of his career. It'd be quite a nice change-up for the Bengals' field general, methinks.

Due in part to the fact that Hafley was born in New Jersey, Orr links him heavily to the Giants' coaching vacancy. Promising as rookie QB Jaxson Dart looks so far, he's no Joe Burrow.

Like Orr said, Burrow is a market shifter. Why do folks think Jim Harbaugh waited so long to return to the NFL? He saw the chance to go coach Justin Herbert with the Chargers and pounced.

Speaking of which...

3. Jesse Minter, defensive coordinator, Los Angeles Chargers

The third candidate on this list. Jesse Minter would take some of that hard-nosed Harbaugh grit with him to Cincinnati, yet also bring a lot to the table from a personnel standpoint.

What do I mean by that? Well, Minter was with Harbaugh at the University of Michigan. They were in the recruiting world for a couple years together, and had to look beyond when their tenures ended and they bolted to LA.

Minter has had up-and-coming talent on his radar for years. It's why the Chargers have managed to build their roster so well through the past couple drafts. Cincinnati's personnel/scouting departments are super thing. They can't really evaluate defensive players to save their lives. Either that or the current coaching staff is just that bad at developing prospects.

Any which way you want to assign the blame, Minter would be an asset on both of those fronts. The Bolts are in lockstep about who they like, who fits Minter's schemes, and he gets his players to produce right away, almost without exception. No excuses. No major busts. No huge free-agent flops. Just bottom-line results on the gridiron, which is what this NFL business is all about.

Also, Minter will sleep a little better if he's coaching Burrow, not playing against him. Look no further than last season's Chargers-Bengals matchup in Week 11. Joe Shiesty staged a furious rally from a 27-6 deficit with 21 unanswered points, throwing for 356 yards and three TDs in LA's eventual 34-27 win. Even before that unfolded, Minter was losing literal sleep in anticipation.

Were he to land in Cincinnati, I believe Minter would have the wherewithal to realize that an antiquated Greg Roman-style offensive playbook wouldn't cut it with Burrow and the Bengals.

What Minter's solution to that would be is unclear, but one more time, say it with me y'all: Burrow is a market shifter. Any offensive coordinator worth their salt would be tripping over themselves trying to get on Minter's staff in that spot.

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