Zac Taylor in search of first Vince Lombardi trophy
Zac Taylor is just 38 years old and was part of the Rams’ coaching staff with Sean McVay when they lost Super Bowl LIII to the New England Patriots.
For the first time in the history of the NFL, two head coaches younger than 40 years old will face each other in the Super Bowl when Rams coach Sean McVay, 36, and Bengals coach Zac Taylor, 38, fight for the victory in the LVI edition.
Zac Taylor's path to the Bengals
The two coaches have a history. Zac Taylor was the quarterbacks coach for the McVay-led Rams team when they went to the Super Bowl in 2019 and lost to the New England Patriots. Before working with McVay, Taylor was the offensive coordinator for the Cincinnati Bearcats in the NCAA.
After he helped Jared Goff become a decent quarterback, the Bengals trusted Taylor to help rebuild their franchise after the Marvin Lewis era. This was his first opportunity as head coach in the NFL.
However, his career as a coach started as an assistant at Texas A&M when he was 25 years old. He then began as an assistant quarterback coach in the NFL for the Miami Dolphins in 2012 and in 2015 became the interim offensive coordinator.
Unexpected success
Taylor’s first season with the Bengals was complicated, as he was dealing with veteran quarterback Andy Dalton, who had been drafted in the Marvin Lewis era and finished the season with a 2-14 record. That turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
After finishing with the worst record in the league in 2019, the Bengals were able to pick first in the 2020 draft and they scooped up their best prospect in years, quarterback Joe Burrow.
With Burrow in charge of the offense, Taylor’s Bengals looked like they could have a promising future, winning four games in the regular season, but that wasn’t enough to get them out of the bottom of the AFC North.
The third season was a charm for Taylor though, after winning the first AFC North title for the Bengals since 2015. The head coach in Cincinnati broke a 31-year streak of no playoff wins and brought the team to their third Super Bowl in franchise history.
If the Bengals win the Super Bowl, Zac Taylor will be just the third coach under 40 years old to ever win the title.