The Cincinnati Bengals head coach has earned the respect of many, but maybe not at CBS Sports.
Training camp is rapidly approaching for the Cincinnati Bengals, but we are still in the down time.
It’s the offseason, so naturally, everyone has to rank everything in the NFL. Players like Joe Burrow are falling down top player lists after last year’s injury. The Bengals’ weapons are being underrated after losing Tyler Boyd and Joe Mixon. Overall, the Bengals seem to only have three players “worth” mentioning on top 100 lists
Cody Benjamin of CBS Sports recently published his rankings of NFL coaches heading into the 2024 season. Zac Taylor clocks in at 14th in the second tier of coaches, “Accomplished, but with questions.”
Ahead of him are Andy Reid, Sean McVay, Kyle Shanahan, John Harbaugh, Matt LaFleur, Mike Tomlin, Jim Harbaugh, Dan Campbell, Sean McDermott, Kevin Stefanski, Mike McDaniel, Kevin O’Connell, and DeMeco Ryans.
“A fair question regarding Taylor had centered on the coach’s ability to elevate Cincinnati without a healthy Joe Burrow, but he finally provided a bit of an answer in 2023, keeping the Bengals in the playoff hunt while Burrow nursed yet another ailment. After back-to-back AFC Championship bids starting in 2022, however, he could really stand to benefit from his signal-caller staying upright.”
The biggest critique of Taylor is his record without Burrow. Considering he’s 8-22 without the franchise quarterback, it’s more than fair. Of course, he was 2-14 in his first season when the Bengals were actively tanking and fixing the locker room culture. Taking away that season, it’s not great at 6-8 but it’s not as ugly.
Last year, we saw Taylor without Burrow and he was able to coach Jake Browning to stay in contention until Week 17. Even then, it took a 15-0 run by the eventual Super Bowl champions to win.
However, how many of those losses were due to awful offensive line play? As the head coach, he takes the brunt of all criticism. At the same time, how can he coach up a backup quarterback who is sacked 16 times in those four losses down the stretch, including six in that Chiefs game?
The fact of the matter is if you take away any of those first 13 teams’ quarterbacks, they’re going to falter. What is Kansas City without the weekly heroics of Patrick Mahomes? The Buffalo Bills are in dangerous waters if Josh Allen ever misses time.
Judging a coach based on what he does without his top-three-at-worst quarterback seems a bit superficial.
At full strength, Taylor can – and has – coach with the best of them. He’s out-coached Reid three out of five times with those two losses coming by one score each. He’s out-coached McDermott in two not-as-close-as-the-final-score-would-suggest games, one of which was in Buffalo in the playoffs.
Is Zac Taylor the best coach in the NFL? Certainly not, we can still concede that to Andy Reid and his three rings and two other appearances in the Super Bowl. McVay and Tomlin are still both wizards. But in the two fully healthy Burrow seasons, Taylor was among the best.
The theme this offseason has been all about overlooking the Bengal