Zac Taylor has led the Cincinnati Bengals on their historic journey to Super Bowl LVI in his third season as head coach, but Sunday won’t be his first time coaching on the biggest stage in the NFL. Before being hired by the Bengals, Taylor worked under Sean McVay as the quarterbacks coach of the Los Angeles Rams. His final game with the Rams was the 13-3 Super Bowl LIII loss to the New England Patriots. The very next day, he was a Bengal.
Taylor was asked about his final game with the Rams on Thursday, and he said he felt conflicted with the outcome. While the loss was a loss, it also marked the beginning of a new chapter for Taylor and his family.
“I don’t know that I’ve ever really processed the game in its entirety because you woke up the next morning and it was an exciting time for myself and my family,” Taylor said, via Pro Football Talk. “So that’s a hard question to ask. It’s a good question. I don’t even honestly have a great answer for you because it was such a wild conflict over, really, a 12-hour period for me. To get to where we were at — I still remember Tom Brady and Bill Belichick walking by me in the hallway after they won the game and the excitement on their faces. I’ve never forgotten that. It was crushing to see.
“Then again, to wake up the next morning and be on a plane to come here [to Cincinnati] for a press conference, that was exciting. So I’ve never really properly processed that.”
Now, just over three years later, the Rams are again in the Super Bowl — and so is Taylor. McVay is hoping for a different result than Super Bowl LIII while Taylor, funnily enough, is hoping for a Rams loss this time around.
