The Cincinnati Bengals have a solid, respectable-enough head coach in Zac Taylor. He came within three points of winning a Super Bowl in Joe Burrow's second season, and can only do so much with the ownership and front office hand he's been dealt.
Those qualifiers aside, Taylor is uniquely positioned to weigh in on personnel given the Bengals' close-knit circle of trusted confidantes and talent evaluators. He has to wear at least some of the poor roster-building of recent years.
Taylor has overcome and had success in spite of an antiquated football operation around him. However, there's a certain head coaching candidate in 2027 who would be a schematic upgrade and bring a new flavor to Cincinnati not only as a coach, but as a key organizational leader.
I'm talking about fired Miami Dolphins head coach and new Los Angeles Chargers offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel.
Chargers OC Mike McDaniel's philosophy could catalyze succeeding Zac Taylor as Bengals head coach
In McDaniel's introductory press conference as the architect/play-caller of Jim Harbaugh's Chargers offense, he delivered an elegant monologue about what a championship mindset is supposed to be:
"To me, in this league, visions for several years out is a pipe dream. When you're afforded a franchise quarterback such as Justin Herbert, I think you always have a chance, but your mindset has to be to go after the trophy each and every year. […] There's some teams that you guys might have been surprised about being in the championship games or going to the Super Bowl. I know the people it doesn't surprise are the teams themselves. And you kind of have to have that mindset each and every year to go after that trophy and see how far your team can go."
the mindset pic.twitter.com/9E14cB7Wm7
— Los Angeles Chargers (@chargers) January 27, 2026
Now swap out the name "Justin Herbert" with Joe Burrow and tell me that sentence in particular is not precisely the words Who Dey Nation has clamored for all these years.
Jim Harbaugh wins. Google him, Curt Cignetti-style. In five of six NFL seasons, Harbaugh has won double-digit games. Guess what? He finally has an offense that fits in the 21st century of football thanks to McDaniel. Chances are very good that he's about to win double-digit games again in 2026.
It's hilarious how McDaniel takes so much heat for how things went south in Miami. He was too good at his job, to the point where the Dolphins gave Tua Tagovailoa over $200 million on his second contract.
Imagine how hard McDaniel is about to cook by upgrading from Tua to Herbert. With an indefatigable winner like Harbaugh.
Think he might be a hot head coaching candidate next offseason? Yeahithinkso.
Since Taylor's contract in Cincinnati runs through 2027, it's anyone's guess if the Bengals would actually fire him even if they miss the playoffs a fourth straight time. But McDaniel's words in that presser should be ringing throughout the building at 1 Paycor Stadium.
"The mindset" as Chargers X/Twitter's annual first-team All-Pro admin referred to it in the caption, is the only mindset the Bengals should have. That message never gets projected by Taylor or any other franchise figurehead. Maybe Mike McDaniel is the dude who can convincingly fulfill that promise in a hypothetical post-Taylor era.