Zac Taylor will enter training camp as the only AFC North head coach who kept his job from last season.
But now, Taylor has fewer places to hide if Cincinnati wastes another season of Joe Burrow’s prime.
The Bengals finished 6-11 in 2025 and missed the playoffs for a third consecutive year.
Their last postseason appearance ended with an AFC Championship Game loss after the 2022 season, one year after Taylor led the franchise to the Super Bowl.
Those runs have kept his job safe, but the increasing distance from them has also started to define his future.
CBS Sports ranked Taylor fourth among five coaches entering 2026 under the most pressure, while Pro Football Focus included him among six coaches on the hot seat.
ESPN’s Dan Graziano went further, writing that another playoff miss with a healthy Burrow could make this Taylor’s final season in Cincinnati.
Taylor has earned more patience than many coaches would receive after three straight playoff absences.
The Bengals have now constructed a season in which patience will be harder to defend.
Taylor Has Less Room to Blame Bengals’ Defense
GettyBengals head coach Zac Taylor faces a make-or-break season with Burrow healthy
Cincinnati’s offense has generally been dynamic when Burrow is available.
ESPN noted that the Bengals ranked 10th in offensive EPA from 2023 through 2025 but 29th on defense over the same period.
The defense emerged as the clearest reason for Cincinnati’s decline and the focus of its offseason overhaul.
Cincinnati traded the No. 10 overall pick for Dexter Lawrence, then added Boye Mafe and Bryan Cook as part of a broader effort to repair the unit around defensive coordinator Al Golden.
The Bengals ranked 28th in defensive EPA per play and 29th in both success rate and touchdown-drive rate allowed over the past two seasons.
Those additions raise the roster’s floor and Taylor’s standard.
A defense that moves toward the middle of the league should give Burrow enough support to return Cincinnati to playoff contention.
Another bottom-tier finish would invite questions about personnel, coaching and Taylor’s ability to oversee the entire operation.
The Bengals have spent heavily to preserve the offense Burrow wanted and stretched beyond their typical approach to address the defense.
Undoubtedly, 2026 feels closer to a final evaluation than another season of waiting for the roster to catch up.
Mike Brown’s Support Comes With an Expectation
GettyCincinnati Bengals owner Mike Brown
Bengals President Mike Brown gave Taylor a public vote of confidence one day after the 2025 season ended.
Brown said he remained confident in Taylor and personnel executive Duke Tobin, adding that the organization trusted their plan and expected to return to its desired level of success.
Burrow also expressed confidence in the coaching staff after the season finale, saying he felt prepared and placed in position to succeed.
Taylor is also reportedly under contract through 2027, which makes an early-season firing difficult to envision unless the year deteriorates quickly.
The same statement that protected Taylor also solidified the expectation surrounding him.
Cincinnati has a franchise quarterback, plus an established group of offensive playmakers and a rebuilt defense.
The rest of the division is adapting to new coaching staffs.
The opening is there.
A playoff appearance would likely settle the question.
Another losing season with a healthy Burrow would make Taylor’s accomplishments from 2021 and 2022 feel increasingly isolated.
The Bengals don’t have to announce that their coach is on the hot seat for the pressure to be real.
Three prominent national outlets have already placed him there, and Cincinnati’s offseason left Taylor with a comprehensible way off it.
Cincinnati Bengals’ Zac Taylor Under Pressure After 3 Straight Playoff Misses