Despite a dismal season, Zac Taylor should not be fired for two reasons.
The Cincinnati Bengals had hopes of winning the Super Bowl going into the 2023 season. Regretfully, despite having such high expectations prior to the start of the regular season, they failed to qualify for the playoffs. People will undoubtedly point the finger at Zac Taylor for the Bengals’ disappointing season, but that hardly seems fair.
Though it’s unlikely that many are talking about Taylor’s firing by the Bengals, there must be some who believe it’s time for them to split ways. This is why it would be absurd.
It appeared as though the Bengals might win a few more games and secure a top-10 draft pick before Joe Burrow was injured in Week 11 and out for the remainder of the campaign. It appeared to be the case following the Week 12 loss to Pittsburgh, in which Jake Browning played a horrendous game.
But from that point on, Zac Taylor called plays that his backup quarterback could manage, as a playcaller should. Taylor continued to call plays in that Week 12 game as though Burrow was still the quarterback, even though that was not the case. He started calling plays in Week 13 that he thought Browning could handle, and it worked.
The Bengals were 8-6 and in the postseason at one point. Though there were a few weeks where things went south, Taylor is not solely to blame for it. This season, injuries were a major issue for Cincinnati, and he has little control over them.
