Former NFL Head Coach Expects Bengals To Fire Zac Taylor Following 2025 Season

Taylor is entering the final year of his contract next season.

Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor heads for the locker room after the fourth quarter of the NFL Week 14 game between the Buffalo Bills and the Cincinnati Bengals at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, N.Y., on Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025. The Bills overcame a halftime deficit to win 39-34. | Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

CINCINNATI — Many in the Bengals fanbase are calling on the team to go a different direction at head coach moving forward, and former NFL head coach Bruce Arians agrees to an extent.

He thinks three head coaches, including Zac Taylor, could get fired in the AFC North, and the champion will be the only one not to make a move.

Cincinnati is currently three games back in the division and holds a 52.4% chance of getting a top 10 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. Arians discussed it all on The Pat McAfee Show.

"Whoever wins it gets to stay," Arians said on The Pat McAfee Show. "Now if they don't, the way s**** has been going in Pittsburgh, big win last week. But my pick last week was the Bengals. And damn, they had it too. They had it up in Buffalo, and the man pulled out his cape, Josh Allen. But yeah, I think this division is gonna go right to the last game, and again at least three guys could be gone."

Now, firing Zac Taylor and his entire staff this offseason is a historical long shot given they'd have to pay out the rest of all those guaranteed contracts, but it's not crazy, especially if they finish with a whimper this season.

The Bengals would be firing him in a similar spot to Marvin Lewis in 2019. Lewis had one year remaining on his contract extension when Cincinnati let him go, same with Taylor, who is entering the final year of his extension.

Taylor has coached the Bengals since the 2019 season, posting a 50-61-1 record over that time.

Check out the full clip below:

"I think the AFC North is gonna go right to the last game..

There could be some coaching changes at the end of the season" ~ @BruceArians #PMSLive https://t.co/dF181plWKl pic.twitter.com/rAoskpMmSy

— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) December 9, 2025

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