Cincinnati Bengals' head coach Zac Taylor ranked in bottom half of NFL coaches.
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Cincinnati Bengals' head coach Zac Taylor ranked in bottom half of NFL coaches.
When it comes to the Cincinnati Bengals, it can be tough to accurately grade the job performances of the coaches and executives. After all, owner Mike Brown and his family are ultimately the ones heavily influencing the decisions made by these folks and who knows how much autonomy any of them have.
Last year, when the team was haggling with NFL sack aficionado Trey Hendrickson, no one was blaming general manager Duke Tobin. Talk about a G.M. with one arm tied behind his back while blindfolded.
The same can be said for head coach Zac Taylor. Since taking over the head-coaching job in 2019, Taylor has a 52-63-1 record and probably would have been fired a long time ago by most NFL franchises. He’s had some good runs, including one that ended with a Super Bowl loss, but this team is always a Joe Burrow injury away from drafting No. 1 overall every year in the NFL Draft.
Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor ranked in bottom half of the NFL
Patrick Daugherty (also known as RotoPat) of NBC Sports recently ranked the head coaches in the league. A lot of that is subjective, but after listing Taylor at No. 14 in 2025, RotoPat slides him down three spots to No. 17 on this year’s list.
“Zac Taylor is now the longest-tenured head coach in the AFC North because he’s the only-tenured head coach in the AFC North,” Daugherty writes, noting that every other team in the division has a first-year coach. “A man who seemingly half the world wants fired has now outlasted Mike Tomlin and John Harbaugh. It’s not due to merit, of course.
“Taylor would have been churned in almost any other city by now. But Mike Brown’s Bengals will never be any other franchise. They favor thrift. They prefer slow and steady. They never win the race, but that’s a matter for another day. So, if Taylor isn’t going anywhere, what are the Bengals left to work with? A coach who at least abides by “you’re only as good as your quarterback.”
Zac Taylor is extremely reliant on the health of Joe Burrow
Burrow was drafted first overall in the 2020 draft out of LSU and his career 43-33-1 record as a starting quarterback really helps illustrate where Taylor’s wins come from. That’s not a knock on Taylor, Burrow is one of the best in the game and very few head coaches can weather a lengthy absence from their starting QB.
“When Joe Burrow is healthy, Taylor doesn’t get in his way and the Bengals score a ton of points,” Daugherty continues. “When Burrow is out, Taylor stands around waiting for him to return. Hardly ideal. Also not as disastrous as it could be. A replacement-level in-game decision-maker, Taylor is never going to steal a game on his own. I guess Bengals fans should be thankful he — usually — doesn’t lose them on his own, either.”
It’s not just Burrow’s health, however. Taylor has also been battling a terrible defense. In 2025, the Bengals were second-to-last in the NFL in yards given up per game and third-to-last in points. I encourage anyone to find me a head coach that can win consistently with a defense like that, and it’s been this way for years.