Bill Simmons Suggests Legendary NFL Coach as Potential Replacement for Bengals' Zac Taylor
The Cincinnati Bengals have some of the best players in the nation with quarterback Joe Burrow, wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase, and defensive end Trey Hendrickson. Despite all of that talent on the roster, they sit at 4-7 on the season, and their playoff chances are dwindling by the week.
It's not for a lack of effort, though. Sunday night's thriller with the Los Angeles Chargers almost got the Bengals back into the win column, but some late heroics from Justin Herbert gave LA a 37-34 victory.
Now, as Cincinnati goes forward and takes stock of the season, there are some who think that a coaching change might be in order after the season.
One of those people is The Ringer's Bill Simmons, and he has an intriguing coaching candidate who could act as the replacement.
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Could the legendary Bill Belichick end up in Cincinnati?
“If I’m the Bengals, I don’t know how Zac Taylor survives the season,” Simmons said on his Sunday podcast. “This could be another job that’s open, and I was thinking it’s a pretty interesting Belichick job.”
Belichick has been out of the coaching ranks for a year after stepping down from his post with the New England Patriots a year ago. The eight-time Super Bowl champion has staying in the public eye, working endlessly on the media side of things now with ESPN.
While that may be a nice life for the former coach, there is a strong belief that Belichick will return to coaching next year as he works to break the NFL record for coaching wins. At the moment, Belichick has 302 total wins, which is 26 behind the all-time record held by Don Shula.
“If you’re going for wins if you’re Belichick, if one of the reasons you’re coming back is to break the record, then Burrow is the best quarterback available,” Simmons said. “Otherwise you’re looking at Trevor Lawrence, you’re looking at whatever the Giants do, you’re looking at whoever the hell the Raiders QB is going to be.”
Typically, it is losing teams with bad quarterbacks who end up with coaching vacancies, but the Bengals could present a unique opportunity should they choose to move on from Taylor, who is 41-51-1 in his six years in Cincinnati.
Of course, for any of this to happen, the Bengals would have to decide to part ways with him in the first place. If that does come to fruition, though, don't be surprised to hear more buzz around Belichick. He's spent time in Ohio before as the head coach of the Cleveland Browns, so it's fair to think that he could make a return trip to take Burrow and the Bengals under his wing as well.
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