Bengals coach comments paint 2025 in strange light

1 week ago 2

The Cincinnati Bengals threw out some weird signals during this year’s failed season, especially once quarterback Joe Burrow went down with an injury.

While Zac Taylor led the Bengals to a 1-8 mark without Burrow, the team made a win-now move by trading for Joe Flacco.

But they also benched a captain like linebacker Logan Wilson, eventually granting his trade request. They rolled with two rookie linebackers, Demetrius Knight and Barrett Carter.

And from the sounds of it, even Carter’s positional coach was a little surprised by the move.

"It was a little bit unexpected when we decided to start Barrett," Bengals assistant coach Mike Hodges told ESPN's Ben Baby. "I could maybe see that transitioning happening, but I didn't think Logan was necessarily hurting us. He wasn't playing up to his par either."

Context makes it more interesting. After his benching, Wilson dropped a “ask Zac” response before submitting his trade request.

So was Taylor given the green light to soft rebuild midseason of a possible lost season?

The Flacco trade sort of says otherwise, but Jake Browning wasn’t playing pro-level ball at the time of his benching and the emergency trade, either.

The Bengals throwing in the towel on the season in the hopes players can develop for 2026 is a controversial thing. Fans were paying to fill the stadium. The front office didn’t do nearly enough to field a competitive roster, to the point these are even topics of conversation.

No matter how one slices it, the Bengals are a mess. And with reports making it sound like Taylor and his staff are on the way back for next season, it makes one wonder just where the accountability will come from and if the team will be a little more upfront with fans.

This article originally appeared on Bengals Wire: Bengals coach comments paint 2025 in strange light

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