Zac Taylor plans no changes to coaching staff

Quarterback Joe Burrows knows changes need to be made in Cincinnati. None of those changes will include the 2025 coaches.

Coach Zac Taylor told reporters on Monday that he plans to make no changes to the staff.

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Those assistants ultimately may be insulated by the same thing that has gotten Taylor another year, despite only two playoff appearances in seven years and three straight years of no postseason berths. The money.

For the Bengals, it's always about the money. Football is business. They only say "football is family" because it's good for business to say "football is family." They don't want the fans to see it like the black ink/red ink reality that it is. They want the fans to think they're trying to win the Super Bowl, every year.

That's not just the Bengals. For all teams, it's about making as much money as possible. And part of the effort to maximize profits is to get fans to show up for games and buy overpriced stuff. Acting like they desperately want to hoist a Lombardi Trophy is simply part of the grift.

With 32 teams, any owner who hinges their happiness on winning a championship is setting themselves up for likely failure. Even with a quality team, there are too many factors beyond anyone's control. It all comes down to weather or bad calls (which for the other team are good calls) or the unpredictable bounces of an oblong leather ball.

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One team gets to have a parade every year. All teams get to perform an annual goose step to the bank.

For the Bengals, who aren't operated by a multi-billionaires who can treat the football teams as a write-off or a vanity project, the football business is ownership's only business. If they fire a coach and owe him money, the buyout comes straight from the profit margin. Thus, above any other factors, owing Taylor seven or eight figures is enough to justify running it back.

Ditto for members of the coaching staff to whom the Bengals have ongoing financial obligations. Firing a coach and hiring an assistant means paying for two coaches instead of one.

Burrow, like any other player, doesn't care about that. And as he enters his seventh NFL season, he's one away from the number of years it took Carson Palmer to realize that the Bengals prioritize making money over winning championships.

As long as the fans keep falling for it, nothing will change.