Zac Taylor is somehow already one of the longest-tenured coaches in the NFL

The 2023 NFL regular season hasn't even been over for a week and already 25% of the league has parted ways with their head coach. The biggest names out of that bunch to be relieved of their coaching duties are Bill Belichick, Pete Carroll, and Mike Vrabel.

With big names moving on to either a new team or something entirely different, it means that Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor now moves into the seventh spot as far as longest-tenured coach. He's tied in that seven spot with Packers head coach Matt LaFleur as both guys have been with their respective team since 2019.

Zac Taylor moves up on longest-tenured coach list

Funny enough, the two longest-tenured coaches in the league now both hail from the AFC North, as Mike Tomlin has been running the Steelers for 17 seasons and John Harbaugh has been in charge of the Ravens for 16 seasons. Behind those guys are Andy Reid (with the Chiefs for 11 seasons) and then a three-way tie for fourth with Sean McDermott (Bills), Kyle Shanahan (49ers), and Sean McVay (Rams) all with seven seasons under their belts.

Taylor and LaFleur both completed their fifth seasons as the head coach of their respective teams.

Taylor's first two years were two to forget but in year three, he helped lead the Bengals to a Super Bowl appearance where they were edged out by the Rams. The next year, the Bengals got back to the AFC Championship Game but fell short of reaching the Super Bowl.

This season, the wheels fell apart a bit yet the Bengals still managed to finish at 9-8. The AFC North is incredibly tough, however, and Cincinnati finished at the bottom of its division and missed out on the playoffs. They were the only AFC North team not to make the postseason.

With Taylor already being the seventh-longest tenured coach in the NFL, it just goes to show how hard it is to find a good head coach in this league.