The Cincinnati Bengals have fallen devastatingly short of expectations so far this season.
After entering the year expecting to contend for a Super Bowl behind the arm of star quarterback Joe Burrow, the Bengals dropped to 1-4 following an overtime loss at home to their division rival, the Baltimore Ravens.
It almost seemed as if the Bengals wanted to lose. After recovering a fumble in overtime and needing just a field goal to win, the Bengals opted to run the ball three straight times instead of being aggressive to gain yards and set up a shorter kick. Cincinnati went on to miss the kick and set the Ravens up to close out the game. Bengals head coach Zac Taylor explained the team’s approach after the game.
“We feel like we’re in field-goal range,” Taylor said via Cincy Jungle. We’ve thrown the ball in that situation before. We call the pass…Joe actually did a great job getting us out of it, back into a run, because the look was not there to throw it. And so there was good management by him. We still got a couple of yards out of it, and then we’re in a position to win with a field goal, and we thought we’d win it with that.”
Needless to say, fans weren’t satisfied with the explanation.
“Fire him now! There’s too much talent on this team to be 1-4,” one fan wrote on Twitter.
“Zac Taylor just lost the Bengals the game… Three straight dives to settle for a 53 yard FG when your pass offense has been firing on all cylinders. Pathetic, weak playcalling,” a fan added.
“I’ve been saying this for 4 years You can’t win with Zac Taylor. He coached scared in the Super Bowl. He’d coached scared in every game of his life. He can’t hold a lead And he just made seriously a season costing decision. No way about it He needs to be fired now,” another fan added.
It’s obvious something has to give in Cincinnati, and it’s probably not going to be Joe Burrow, which means Taylor may be coaching for his job soon.
