Bengals HC Zac Taylor Considering Changing Approach To OTAs To Avoid Slow Starts To Season

The Cincinnati Bengals just missed out on the postseason despite winning their final five games of the season.

Since taking over as head coach, Bengals HC Zac Taylor is just 1-11 in the first two weeks of the season, which has been part of why they missed the postseason in the last two seasons.

With slow starts and strong finishes becoming a trend, Taylor has considered changing the way they go about their offseason program to help get them going from Week 1. 

“We’re going to work like hell to make sure that we start the season the right way to put ourselves in a great position to finish like we did, because there’s a lot of positives there with the way we finished, and it’s sickening that we’re not in the playoffs with an opportunity to keep this thing going, because we finally found a lot of momentum,” he said via the Athletic’s Paul Dehner Jr.. “And so it’s just on us as a whole to finish games off earlier in the season, and it’s on me as head coach to make sure we come out of the offseason, we come out of training camp and we’re ready to hit the ground running from Game 1.”

After reaching the conference championship in both 2021 and 2022 including the Super Bowl in 2021, Taylor understands the pressure to get back to being an elite contender in the AFC.

“I feel urgency every single day. I’m not lying to you. Pressure’s not the word. You can’t do this job if you’re going to succumb to pressure, I just make the decisions I feel like I need to make. Not because of any pressure I feel. These are the decisions I feel l have to make because I’m the head coach of this football team and the expectations we have.”

Bengals QB Joe Burrow had one of his best seasons in 2024 and was vocal about his support and relationship with Taylor.

“Our relationship is as good as it’s been,” Burrow said. “We’ve had some tough conversations. We’ve had good conversations and everything in between. That’s what playing football in the NFL is all about is having conversations to try to improve your team, yourself and everything.”

Taylor, 38, began his coaching career at Texas A&M back in 2008 as a graduate assistant. He was later hired by the Dolphins as their assistant QBs coach in 2012 and worked his way up to offensive coordinator.

The University of Cincinnati hired Taylor as their QBs coach/offensive coordinator for the 2016 season and he later joined the Rams as their assistant WRs coach in 2017. Taylor was promoted to QBs coach in 2018 and then hired by the Bengals as their head coach in 2019.

Cincinnati signed Taylor to an extension through 2026 following the 2022 season.

During his six years, Taylor has compiled a record of 46-52-1 (47 percent) and two postseason appearances, including two AFC Championship appearances and one Super Bowl appearance.