“He Can’t Coach Without Joe Burrow”: Stephen A. Smith Rips Zac Taylor as Bengals Decide on His Future

Despite having all of the talent in the world (at least on offense), the Cincinnati Bengals missed the playoffs for the third straight year. Those back-to-back trips to the AFC Championship were just three to four years ago, but they’re starting to feel very distant indeed. And that’s trouble for head coach Zac Taylor.

Taylor’s been skating by on the strength of those 2021 and 2022 campaigns. But the truth is, he has not been up to snuff in the last couple of years, injuries be damned. So with Black Monday 2026 fully underway, with multiple NFL head coaches fired the morning after the season’s end, of course, Taylor’s name is on the lips of many.

However, the team announced on Monday that they would be retaining Taylor and GM Duke Tobin for 2026. Afterward, Stephen A. Smith lambasted the team for the decision to keep the head coach around after three straight underperforming years.

“That man needs to go. He can’t coach without Joe Burrow. At all,” Stephen A. said during a segment on First Take.

“I mean, there are other components. Special teams, defense. And you know what, you can look a bit presentable when you have Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins in the crew. And still somehow, someway, they manage to lose games. It’s just too much,” added the analyst.

As of this writing, Black Monday 2026 has claimed Raheem Morris of the Atlanta Falcons (though they didn’t even wait for Monday, getting him out the door right after he won his fourth straight to finish the season on Sunday), Pete Carroll of the Las Vegas Raiders, Kevin Stefanski of the Cleveland Browns, and Jonathan Gannon of the Arizona Cardinals.

Brian Daboll of the New York Giants and Brian Callahan of the Tennessee Titans had already been fired midseason, making it six head coaching vacancies. The Miami Dolphins also fired GM Chris Grier during the season, while the Falcons fired their GM, Terry Fontenot, on Sunday, along with Morris.

But much to Smith’s chagrin, Taylor won’t join that list.

The analyst continued his anti-Taylor rant, hilariously calling once again for an official investigation into how Taylor has managed to fumble such an amazing collection of talent year after year. He specifically pointed to Cincy’s continuously poor starts to the season.

“I will regurgitate the same comment,” Smith declared. “I have called for an investigation into what this man is doing in the offseason. Because come September, they are almost never ready to play. It’s been a continuous situation with Zac Taylor… For the most part, that has been the situation.

“And Joe Burrow goes down, and they forget how to win,” he continued. “I’m just tired of it… You gotta find a way to play better football… That’s on the head coach. I think they should’ve made a change.”

And many will agree with Stephen A. Since 2020, when the Bengals drafted Joe Burrow, they are just 7-16 without him, including a ghastly 1-8 record this season. Zac Taylor may have gotten a stay of execution, but he’s going to be on the hot seat all of 2026.