Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor seems to be flirting with disaster at every turn. For the second game in a row, his team fell into a 13-0 hole, only to rally back with offensive fireworks and secure victories on both occasions.
But why do Taylor-coached teams come out so flat? To invoke the words of another AFC North quarterback, it's a beautiful mystery. Only it's not so beautiful.
This has been a theme throughout Taylor's tenure. First it was losing too often in the first two weeks. Now it's digging out of avoidable deficits far too often on any given Sunday.
Bengals defensive tackle Jonathan Allen was part of a unit that got lit up by the 1-7 Tennessee Titans this past Sunday. While there is some solace to take in a 5-2 record after that 43-36 overtime win, what Allen had to say reflects why the status quo in the Queen City may stay intact for the foreseeable future (read: no coaching change imminent).
Allen's comments reflect a beauty in the eye of the beholder dilemma in Cincinnati
When asked whether he feels the sense of urgency that Joe Burrow has seemingly willed into the locker room since the start of the season, Jonathan Allen answered in the emphatic affirmative. However, what he said next has me worried, via The Jungle Roar podcast host Mike Petraglia:
"1,000%. We're sitting at 5-2, and I don't think anybody's happy about how we've played as a team up to this point. I think it's probably only one game defense can say we played a complete game, and I'm sure offense will say the same thing. So for us, we're just trying to get better every day."
How do you, dear reader, interpret this? The optimistic view is to say, "Wow there's so much room to improve and grow! We're still 5-2! Heck yeah!"
But t hat bit about not playing a complete game, or so seldom doing so. It's giving me flashbacks and not the good kind. What if I told you this perpetual promise of someday playing a "complete game" has gone largely unfulfilled during the Taylor era?
When I covered the Bengals at Barstool Sports during the 2022 season, through their run to the AFC Championship Game, I remember writing on more than one occasion how it never felt like they could string together a complete game.
Shoot, I remember Burrow mentioning in his latest press conference how, even during that run to the NFL's Final Four and Super Bowl LVI before that, they started 2022 with a pedestrian 5-4 record due to a 0-2 start. They were 5-4 before the Week 9 bye the prior season, too.
Winning football is never going to look perfect. I get that. Still, this "complete game" issue. We're talking years ago this dates back to. It's something Taylor has notoriously failed at producing.
Taylor's demeanor is consistent, his teams are not
I like what Zac Taylor has done to keep the offense afloat with Jake Browning in 2023 and Joe Flacco last year when Burrow got seriously injured. That said, I'll reiterate a point I made after Sunday's game: I question whether Taylor has the coaching chops to elevate an NFL program.
Clearly coaching in Cincinnati is tougher than your typical head coaching gig. Lack of scouting department resources. Weirdly insular brain trust. Until this offseason, largely unwilling to spend money or get super aggressive to chase a Super Bowl.
Now that the Bengals' organizational philosophy appears to have shifted, how long will the front office accept a mediocre running game? A defense that can never seem to quite put it all together? The frequent inability to keep Burrow out of uber-heavy dropback passing situations, where he's constantly exposed to more brutal punishment?
Taylor puts forth a sort of even-keeled countenance. Joe Burrow is all about that life. Ja'Marr Chase? Not so much, and some of his emotion was aimed at Taylor during Week 8's frustrating performance.
I'd love to see the Bengals roll the dice and hire someone else. Nothing personal against Zac. I'm just confident there are superior coaches out there. And sometimes you just need a change of voice in the locker room.
Just look at John Harbaugh. He and the Ravens reached a point where it was simply time for both sides to move on. Baltimore would probably be fine if not for Lamar Jackson's recent injury woes; Harbaugh has the Giants in first place in the NFC East.
I hope Zac figures it out, gets this team playing more consistent ball, and we win the Super Bowl with him. That'd be dope. I just don't know how realistic it is that the Bengals will play consistently great enough to get it done, based on years of evidence that even predates the years-long playoff drought Cincinnati is trying to dig out of.
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