The Cincinnati Bengals are under the spotlight right now for announcing they will keep head coach Zac Taylor on for a third season.
For most teams, a 6-25-1 record (the fifth-worst start for a coach over two seasons) would be the end of an experiment.
Instead, the Bengals still seem to be pursuing a certain model set by Drew Brees and Sean Payton with the New Orleans Saints.
Here’s what Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com had to say: “Management has a lot of faith in Taylor and Burrow. The model is in New Orleans with the long-term Super Bowl partnership of head coach Sean Payton and quarterback Drew Brees.”
The idea is off to a rocky start, to say the least. When Brees and Payton arrived in New Orleans in 2006, they immediately won 10 games and a playoff game. By 2009 they’d won a Super Bowl.
Burrow could certainly end up in the Brees category of play in time. But the jury fully remains out on Taylor. And while some of the excuses like injuries the team has thrown out to justify keeping him around make sense, it’s hard to see how this model is still realistic.
There is an argument to made for continuity and how it impacts a young quarterback’s development. But the comparison is off at this point given how quickly the New Orleans duo saw results on the field.
Either way, the Bengals will forge ahead with Taylor and what seems like all three of his coordinators in the hopes he can pair with Burrow and do something special for the organization and city.
