{"id":42194,"date":"2026-01-22T23:51:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T23:51:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=42194"},"modified":"2026-01-22T23:51:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T23:51:16","slug":"bengals-quarterback-gets-honest-about-head-coach-after-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=42194","title":{"rendered":"Bengals Quarterback Gets Honest About Head Coach After Season"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\">\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-2248115782-1-e1769114989784.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-2248115782-1-e1769114989784.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-2248115782-1-e1769114989784.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-2248115782-1-e1769114989784.jpg?quality=35&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"Bengals Quarterback Gets Honest About Head Coach After Season\" width=\"780\" height=\"439\" \/><\/figure>\n<div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The Cincinnati Bengals had their worst year since 2020 as they finished the 2025 season with a 6-11 record. The team failed to meet expectations and missed out on the postseason for the third consecutive season. Despite a Week 1 victory, things quickly unraveled for the Bengals this year, as Joe Burrow suffered a turf-toe injury during their Week 2 win. Burrow returned in Week 13 for the Bengals, but with Cincinnati having a 3-8 record, they were firmly outside the AFC playoff picture.<\/p>\n<p>The team struggled to replace Burrow\u2019s production as they went 1-8 without him. In their first three games without Burrow, the Bengals offense, led by backup quarterback Jake Browning averaged 12.3 points per game. That mark would have ranked the worst in the NFL. As a result of their struggles, the team traded for veteran quarterback Joe Flacco , who had been recently benched by the Browns in favor of rookie Dillon Gabriel. Following the trade, Pittsburgh head coach Mike Tomlin criticized the Browns for the move as he said, \u201cIt doesn\u2019t make sense to me,\u201d as Cleveland was helping a division rival in a position of need. Flacco quickly proved Tomlin right.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2><b>Cincinnati Bengals Quarterback Shares Feelings on Zac Taylor<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>Despite being acquired during the season, Flacco acclimated quickly to Cincinnati and was named the team\u2019s starting quarterback in Burrow\u2019s absence. He gave the Bengals some much-needed life and energy in the season, as Cincinnati averaged 27.1 points per game in his six starts. That mark would have resulted in Cincinnati having the seventh-best scoring offense in the NFL. Unfortunately for the Bengals, their defense was among the worst units in the league and they went 1-5 during Flacco\u2019s starts.<\/p>\n<p>For Flacco, however, the experience with the Bengals was a positive one. Following the season Flacco gave some of his Bengals teammates signed jerseys with a personalized message. He was then asked about his relationship with head coach Zac Taylor. He said, \u201cMy experience with him has been unbelievable. I feel so lucky to have had that happen. I think he\u2019s awesome at what he does. This is a hard business and there\u2019s a lot of times when it doesn\u2019t go the way you want it to. I mean honestly, for 31 teams it goes the way you don\u2019t want it to. I know this is more disappointing than that, but he\u2019s really good at what he does. Guys have a lot of respect for him, no doubt about it.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2><b>Joe Flacco\u2019s Future<\/b><\/h2>\n<p>Unfortunately for Bengals fans, NBC 5 Sports Director Charlie Clifford cast doubt on Flacco returning to Cincinnati, as he said, \u201cA Cincinnati return in 2026 is unlikely.\u201d Despite the 41-year-old quarterback stating he did not intend to retire following the season, he will likely seek a starting opportunity. His 91 passer rating proved Flacco can still be a capable starting quarterback for a team that might be looking for a one-year bridge quarterback.<\/p>\n<p>If Flacco is unable to find a starting job elsewhere, a return to Cincinnati does seem plausible as it appears the quarterback developed positive relationships in his brief time with the Bengals.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Cincinnati Bengals had their worst year since 2020 as they finished the 2025 season with a 6-11 record. The team failed to meet expectations and missed out on the postseason for the third consecutive season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42195,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cincinnati-bengals"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Bengals Quarterback Gets Honest About Head Coach After Season - Breaking News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=42194\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bengals Quarterback Gets Honest About Head Coach After Season - Breaking News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Cincinnati Bengals had their worst year since 2020 as they finished the 2025 season with a 6-11 record. The team failed to meet expectations and missed out on the postseason for the third consecutive season.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=42194\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Breaking News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-22T23:51:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/cincin-39.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"MrKen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"MrKen\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=42194\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=42194\",\"name\":\"Bengals Quarterback Gets Honest About Head Coach After Season - Breaking News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=42194#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=42194#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/cincin-39.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-22T23:51:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-22T23:51:16+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b503ba061d907097809c4aa8a240af15\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=42194#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=42194\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=42194#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/cincin-39.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/cincin-39.png\",\"width\":1080,\"height\":1080},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=42194#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Bengals Quarterback Gets Honest About Head Coach After Season\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/\",\"name\":\"Breaking News\",\"description\":\"Explore top US sports stories, and live updates\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b503ba061d907097809c4aa8a240af15\",\"name\":\"MrKen\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ab07af1f129ef9c67f3a58e6273eac4d8eb51a1cb066ea995eb6d5f03eceb61b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"MrKen\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?author=2\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Bengals Quarterback Gets Honest About Head Coach After Season - Breaking News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=42194","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Bengals Quarterback Gets Honest About Head Coach After Season - Breaking News","og_description":"The Cincinnati Bengals had their worst year since 2020 as they finished the 2025 season with a 6-11 record. 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