Zac Taylor Reacts To Bengals Playoff Contention Ending After 'Frustrating' Shutout Home Loss

Cincinnati is officially out of 2026 NFL Playoff contention with three games left.

Dec 7, 2025; Orchard Park, New York, USA; Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor looks on in the third quarter against the Buffalo Bills at Highmark Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark Konezny-Imagn Images | Mark Konezny-Imagn Images

CINCINNATI — The Bengals' season is over.

Zac Taylor's crew got beat down 24-0 on Sunday in a cold stamping on one of the more disappointing seasons in team history.

Taylor was more focused on the shocking shutout with the playoff destruction still fresh.

"Yeah, I think it's frustrating to score zero points and get shut out at home," Taylor said. "That's unacceptable. Never in a million years would I have seen that come, you know, but that's what happened today. So now we've got to look at why that happened, and we've got to be accountable for it and keep moving forward."

Cincinnati posted just 4.2 yards per play in the game and went 6-20 on third and fourth down during an abysmal day in the cold.

The rest of the season is meaningless in the standigs besides aiming for the highest draft pick possible. Taylor's team will still try to finish 7-10 despite the franchise being better served with the best draft assets possible. Players and coaches don't tank in the NFL.

"I believe in everybody we got," Taylor said bluntly after falling to 2-15 in his Bengals tenure when trailing by 14-plus points at halftime.

They have plenty of injuries to deal with in the next week as they splay out the string of meaningless for the first time in years.

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