Glenn Kaplan
The Cincinnati Bengals have missed the playoffs for three consecutive seasons. It was a surprise that Cincinnati decided to keep Zac Taylor as head coach for another season. The other three teams in the AFC North have new head coaches for the 2026 NFL season. The Bengals have to get off to a hot start next season. If they get off to a very bad start, then Cincinnati could potentially be making a head coaching change during the middle of the season.
This is also going to be a big season for quarterback Joe Burrow as well. He needs to stay healthy. Even when he was injured, the Bengals offense was not the problem. Cincinnati’s defense has been abysmal for the last two seasons. The front office made moves to improve the defense this offseason. If nothing changes on the field, then there are a lot of people who will be blaming the Bengals head coach.
CBS Sports Tyler Sullivan reveals Cincinnati Bengals worst-case scenario
There are a lot of things that need to go right for the Bengals this season. If it doesn’t go right, then it could potentially cost some people jobs. Tyler Sullivan of CBS Sports revealed what the worst-case scenario for Cincinnati could be this season. He said, “One or more pieces of the Burrow-Chase-Higgins trio miss extended time yet again, dramatically altering expectations for the season. While there are new faces on defense, it’s the same result for Cincinnati on that side of the ball, leading to the Bengals missing the playoffs for the fourth straight year. That becomes the straw that breaks the camel’s back and results in Zac Taylor being fired.”
There is a world where the Bengals offense is healthy all season and they just don’t win many games. If that’s the case, Taylor would no doubt be fired after the 2026 NFL season or maybe earlier. There is no way that he would survive being the head coach of this football team after missing the playoffs for four straight seasons. If that did happen, it would be interesting to see who Cincinnati would maybe hire as the next head coach.
If Burrow were to get hurt, the team would no doubt be in trouble. They can’t afford to have any bad turn of events in 2026. The Bengals are going all-in on the 2026 NFL season. They need to make the playoffs and go on a run.
Would Joe Burrow’s Future be in doubt?
If Taylor were to be fired at the end of the season, the next set of questions will be where Burrow gets traded too after the 2026 NFL season ends. He would have a couple of years remaining left on his contract once this season expires. The Bengals are hoping it doesn’t come down to this. There would be several NFL teams that would want to trade for him. Cincinnati fans are hoping that they make the playoffs. If that’s the case, the media won’t have to talk about Taylor being fired and Burrow going to another NFL team in 2027 and beyond.
Cincinnati’s Super Bowl window would be officially closed if they were to trade away Burrow next offseason. They have too much talent on the roster for things to fail again this season.
