Why Zac Taylor, Duke Tobin Weren't Fired by Bengals After Hot-Seat, Joe Burrow Rumors

The Cincinnati Bengals are bringing head coach Zac Taylor back for the 2026 NFL season.

Team president Mike Brown confirmed Taylor and director of pro personnel Duke Tobin will remain in their roles.

"Our focus is on building a team that can consistently compete at the highest level, with the goal of winning championships," he said. "After thoughtful consideration, I am confident that Duke Tobin and Zac Taylor are the right leaders to guide us forward. They have proven they can build and lead teams that compete for championships. We trust their plans and expect to return to our desired level of success."

The news is unlikely to be received well by fans after the Bengals finished 6-11 and saw their playoff drought extend to three years.

The Athletic's Paul Dehner Jr. reported on Dec. 16 the signs pointed to Taylor sticking around.

The coach still seemed to have the support of franchise quarterback Joe Burrow, and Dehner reported Taylor is signed with Cincy for two more seasons. That's an important distinction based on past precedent. Team owner Mike Brown let Marvin Lewis finish out his deal in 2018 rather than fire him after back-to-back losing seasons.

The bigger surprise would've been if Brown ousted Taylor, but that doesn't mean retaining him is clearly the right call.

A lot of people took Cincy's underdog Super Bowl run in 2021 as a sign of a promising future ahead. Instead, Burrow has battled multiple injuries, and the overall quality of the roster has gotten worse.

Another trip to the AFC title game in 2022 followed the Super Bowl LVI loss, but Cincinnati has now had three years of an elite aerial tandem (Burrow and wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase) in their respective primes with nothing to show for it.

The general angst surrounding Burrow is starting to reach a fever pitch as well.

Midway through the 2025 campaign, the two-time Pro Bowler delivered some cryptic remarks about how he wasn't having any fun in his playing career. He also alluded to some difficulties away from the field:

Burrow didn't request a trade, and The Athletic's Dianna Russini played down the likelihood of him forcing a move out of Southwest Ohio.

Still, one NFL executive summed it up well when they told Mike Sando of The Athletic the Bengals were "an organization I trust the least to figure it out." That exec also said it would be a "stake in the heart of your franchise" if Burrow, who grew up less than three hours from Cincinnati, basically said he was done with the team.

It was one thing to stick with Lewis as the coach in spite of diminishing returns and his 0-7 record in the playoffs. The cornerstones from the Andy Dalton/A.J. Green/Geno Atkins era were aging by the late 2010s, and the Bengals' competitive window had pretty much closed.

Now, Cincinnati is in a position where it needs a major overhaul but still has a quarterback who can take a good supporting cast to the postseason.

How much longer is Burrow going to put up with mediocrity, or worse?

Firing Taylor wouldn't have addressed larger structural issues that have plagued the Bengals for decades.

Brown and Tobin are common denominators spanning multiple coaching regimes. Tobin's continued presence is a sign of ownership's misguided priorities.

The Bengals' reputation for being cheap persists as well. In her story on Burrow, Russini reported the QB has expressed concerns behind the scenes.

"People close to him have made it clear that certain parts of the Bengals' operation, with the smallest coaching and scouting staffs in the league, have previously frustrated him," she wrote.

Maybe a new coach wouldn't fare any better than Taylor. But a change on the sideline would've signaled to Burrow and others that ownership recognized the need for something to be done.

Instead, Brown determined the status quo is working just fine.