Bill Belichick and Tom Brady. Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes. Vince Lombardi and Bart Starr. Some pairs of quarterbacks and coaches will stick together throughout history like Bonnie and Clyde or Lewis and Clark.
In today’s NFL, the better your quarterback/head coach combination, the better chance you have of succeeding in any given season. And as the Seattle Seahawks last season showed, the quarterback (Sam Darnold) doesn’t have to be elite, but if the head coach (Mike Macdonald) is very strong, a team can go far.
Sports Illustrated’s Matt Verderame recently ranked the quarterbacks and head coaches for every team, then combined those rankings to create a league-wide ranking of the quarterback/head coach combinations.
The Cincinnati Bengals ended up ranking in the top ten of this list, anchored by quarterback Joe Burrow, who ranked No. 5 among quarterbacks. Head coach Zac Taylor landed at No. 18, giving the Bengals a total of 23, good for 10th in the league.
“Most of Taylor’s time in Cincinnati has been marked by underachievement, as evidenced by his 52-63-1 record, including three consecutive seasons without a playoff appearance,” Verderame wrote. “While some of that can be explained by Burrow missing 16 games over that span, the Bengals are also just 19–16 when he plays. If this were any other ownership group, Taylor would be on an annual hot seat.
Verderame added: “With Burrow, the only question is availability. In his six-year career, he hasn’t played in 23 games. When healthy, he’s a superstar. In 2024, he led the league with 4,918 yards and 43 touchdowns. He’s also reached a Super Bowl and two AFC championship games. Lining up with Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins on the outside, Burrow is poised for another great season—if he’s upright.”
It has felt in recent years like Taylor is on the hot seat, or at least should be. The Bengals haven’t made the playoffs since losing to the Kansas City Chiefs in the 2022 AFC Championship Game, one season after reaching Super Bowl LVI. 2025 was Cincinnati’s first losing season since going 4-11-1 in 2020. Taylor’s record is boosted by going 6-25-1 his first two seasons before rattling off four straight winning seasons from 2021-2024.
When healthy, Burrow is without question one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. But that has been the key to his career to this point, staying healthy. Three of his six NFL seasons were limited to ten games or fewer due to various injuries, including his ACL tear his rookie season.
The only quarterbacks ranked ahead of Burrow in this exercise are Mahomes (Chiefs), Josh Allen (Bills), Matthew Stafford (Rams) and Lamar Jackson (Ravens).
This article originally appeared on Bengals Wire: Bengals’ Joe Burrow, Zac Taylor make odd pair in HC/QB rankings
Reporting by Billy Riccette, Bengals Wire / Bengals Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
