Former star Nebraska quarterback Zac Taylor has had to guide the Cincinnati Bengals through a series of off-the-field dramas and a multitude of struggles on the field. However, a loss on Sunday afternoon might spell the end of his run as the team's head coach, even if he makes it to the end of the year.
In a season where things started spinning out of control before the first game kicked off and only got worse in Week 2 when they lost superstar quarterback Joe Burrow for several months, losing to the New York Jets is a new low for Taylor and his team. That the Bengals scored 38 points and lost makes it worse.
Former Nebraska QB Zac Taylor hits new low with Bengals
Allowing 39 points to the league's worst offense isn't exactly a glowing recommendation of the Bengals' new defensive coordinator, hand-picked by Zac Taylor. Turns out that Al Golden has not come close to bringing over the magic he brought to the Notre Dame defense the last few seasons.
Instead, the defense might actually be worse than it was a year ago, when long-time DC Lou Anarumo was fired after six seasons.
It might not seem fair to blame an offense-minded head coach for his team's defensive problems. After all, Zac Taylor's squad scored 38 points with a quarterback in Joe Flacco who was a member of the Cleveland Browns two weeks ago. However, Taylor is running out of excuses. Firing Anarumo was likely his final get out of jail free card.
Now the Bengals, who lost four straight after Burrow went down, rarely looked very competitive, and have lost to the worst team in the league. The Jets were 0-7 coming into Sunday and were such a mess that the team's owner publicly called out its quarterback.
Justin Fields, the quarterback who was supposedly the problem for the Jets, threw for 244 yards and a touchdown while running for another 31 yards.
Many Nebraska football fans have rooted for Zac Taylor from afar. He's the only former Husker who is a head coach in the NFL. There's the added bonus that he was a very popular quarterback when he played in Lincoln, leading a very real, albeit very brief, resurgence of the program under Bill Callahan.
Therein might be the one bonus. If Zac Taylor is fired - and he almost certainly will be if the 3-5 Bengals don't make the playoffs - Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule should immediately reach out and offer him a position on the staff. For now, however, there's nothing to do but wait and watch and see how much worse things can get in Cincinnati.