Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor said he expects the current coaching staff to be back next year in a press conference Monday.
In an article from Sports Illustrated, Taylor said that the only reason for a potential shakeup would be promotional opportunities.“That remains to be seen. I think we have a tremendously talented coaching staff, and so I think opportunities are always going to be thrown at us,” Taylor said. “I’ve got to get up to speed on the rules of who I would have to lose and who I wouldn’t, but I think that stuff takes shape over the next couple weeks and we’ll evaluate that as we go.”
Taylor and the current coaching staff are coming off of a 9-8 season. The Bengals had one of the hardest schedules in the history of the NFL, and they played in the only division to have all teams finish above .500 since 1935.
The Bengals went 9-8 against the hardest schedule with like six of their games with a healthy starting quarterback pic.twitter.com/9qXENOrXNX
The Cincinnati Bengals and head coach Zac Taylor were without a healthy first-string quarterback for the majority of the season
Taylor and the Bengals mustered a 9-8 record in a season were there was just a few games with a healthy first-string quarterback. Quarterback Joe Burrow played the first four games with a nagging calf injury that hampered the offenses ability to run at full strength.
“I mean, I’m not going to go down that narrative at all.”Joe Burrow is limited by his calf issue, and because of it, so is the #Bengals offense.Onthequarterback,concerns and urgency as one of the most anticipated seasons in team history hits a crossroads. pic.twitter.com/N23D4wOyDYJoe Danneman (@FOX19Joe) October 3, 2023
Burrow eventually recovered and had a few games at full health before incurring a season ending injury on his throwing hand. During his few games of full health, the Bengals beat the current Super Bowl-favorite San Francisco 49ers by two scores.
Cincy Fan Zone (@CincyFanZone) October 30, 2023
The fact that the Cincinnati Bengals were able to fight through this level of adversity and still be a team that was on the fringe of making the playoffs supports Taylor’s claim that the Bengals coaching staff is where it needs to be.
The one glaring issue that the Cincinnati Bengals have faced since their Super Bowl run in 2021 is the offensive line. Offensive line coach Frank Pollack has been the coach for that position since 2021, which is his second stint with the Bengals.
In 2021, the Bengals allowed 55 sacks. This number was good for third in the NFL, and one of those sacks prevented the Bengals from winning the Super Bowl as it did not allow Burrow to throw the ball to a wide open wide receiver streaking towards the end zone in Ja’Marr Chase.
Sacks effectively ended the Bengals’ season again this year. They needed to beat the Kansas City Chiefs to keep their playoff hopes alive, and they gave up five sacks to close out the game.
