The numbers tell a clear story.
The Cincinnati Bengals picked up their seventh loss of the season Sunday night, failing to complete the comeback against the Los Angeles Chargers. Another heartbreaking close loss. More “almost.”
Is it time to make a change? If you listen to “The 5-Year Rule,” it is.
FiveThirtyEight shows that no NFL head coach/quarterback combination in the history of the NFL has won a Super Bowl together after five seasons together. That is exactly where the Joe Burrow/Zac Taylor duo is. If one side has to leave Cincinnati, it surely won’t be Joe Burrow.
Ahead of an NFL coaching cycle with some interesting names, could the Bengals give Taylor the axe and sign a big name? Bill Simmons thinks they should.
“I don’t know how Zac Taylor survives the season,” Simmons said on his podcast. ”This could be another job that’s open, and I was thinking this is a pretty interesting (Bill) Belichick job. He’s gonna get one of these jobs. It’s a really interesting (Mike) Vrabel job, too.”
The common rebuttal to the Bengals signing the big-name coaches is the organization. Big-name coaches require big-time salaries and typically ask for more control than the Bengals have shown they’re willing to give up.
Vrabel has shown the ability to win despite a less-than-ideal organizational structure in his time with the Tennesee Titans. Belichick did well in some slim salary cap years with the New England Patriots, although he was essentially the general manager behind some very bad drafts.
Taylor was a quarterbacks coach with the Los Angeles Rams before becoming the head man in Cincinnati. If the Bengals do part ways, do they go the same route with an unproven coach from a team that found some success, or would they swing big?
That depends on if they swing at all.
