On a day when NFL head coaches are getting fired left and right, the Cincinnati Bengals decided to opt for stability by retaining Zac Taylor. The move came with much disdain, as many analysts couldn’t understand how the Bengals head coach earned another year at the helm, especially after back-to-back playoff-less seasons.
Advertisement
One analyst even feels the Bengals have made a mistake by not considering the Buffalo Bills’ offensive coordinator, Joe Brady, as a potential replacement.
Stephen A. Smith, meanwhile, says that Taylor can’t coach without Burrow at the helm.
“Hell no. That man needs to go. He can’t coach without Joe Burrow,” Stephen A. stated on First Take. “I mean, there are other components, special teams, defense, and you know what? You can look a bit presentable when you’ve got JaMarr Chase and Tee Higgins in the crew. And still, somehow, someway, they manage to lose games. It’s just too much of a pass he’s getting.”
Co-penalist Cam Newton also weighed in, and had nothing positive to say in Taylor’s defense.
“When you’ve got talent like Ja’Marr Chase, Joe Burrow, Tee Higgins, those guys really don’t need exceptional coaching,” he argued. “It’s about the Jimmy’s and Joe’s, not the X’s and O’s. C’mon now, when you’ve got great players like that, it’s not hard. Trust me. I could go do that.”
These were scathing remarks from the ESPN analysts. Clearly, they were not happy to see Taylor retain his job. In fact, Newton also mentioned that recently fired Raheem Morris of the Falcons should’ve gotten a longer leash, similar to what Taylor has had in Cincinnati.
There’s a difference between Morris and Taylor, though. Morris was getting his second chance as a head coach, and it just wasn’t coming together for him. On the other hand, Taylor once brought the Bengals back-to-back to the AFC Championship game and also to a Super Bowl.
Regardless, that was over three seasons ago. It was still surprising to see Taylor’s leash once again extended by the Bengals’ front office, which is why analyst Ryan Clark felt he should’ve been replaced by Joe Brady.
“If I were the Cincinnati Bengals decision makers, I would’ve gotten rid of Zac Taylor and brought in Joe Brady,” Clark professed. “He was the offensive coordinator in 2019 with Joe Burrow. But we’ve also watched him protect Josh Allen, get a run game in Buffalo- that’s what you need to do in order to protect Joe Burrow.”
Clark made some good points. Brady did work for LSU as the QB and WRs coach in 2019, Burrow’s last season at LSU. They even won a National Title together that year.
Today, Brady has made a name for himself in Buffalo as an offensive savant. He’ll probably be mentioned in this year’s carousel as a possible replacement for one of the head coaching vacancies. But the Bengals don’t seem focused on acquiring him at all.
At the end of the day, did Cincinnati make the right decision to keep Taylor? It’s not a popular opinion, but we tend to think yes. Burrow more than likely had a hand in this decision, and if he wants to retain his coach, who are we to question him? He clearly believes in Taylor and thinks that he can take the team to the promised land. Furthermore, they got so close once before already.
Many people tend to think that the best route after a bad season is to change coaches, but we couldn’t disagree more. Coaching changes bring about times of uncertainty, reckless action, and precariousness. It’s usually better to keep the man in charge to avoid disrupting the culture in the building. That seems to be the route the Bengals are taking by keeping Taylor.
So, far, on Black Monday, the Atlanta Falcons fired Morris, the Cleveland Browns fired Kevin Stefanski, the Las Vegas Raiders fired Pete Carroll, and the Arizona Cardinals fired Jonathan Gannon.
