Zac Taylor Vs. Expansion Teams

[BengalChris]

(10-11-2020, 08:00 PM)Wes Mantooth Wrote: I've seen quite a few people say that Zac has had little to work with, that he had no chance last season, that last year was an "evaluation year", etc.

Now, there's a lot of people that don't buy into any or this.  They realize he inherited a not completely terrible 6 win team, that he inherited a team with some talent, and that, at least by now, he should be showing marked improvement.

Just to appease those in the former group, I figured we might compare him to some expansion coaches.  Coaches that inherited literally nothing, and had their initial rosters made up of castoffs, guys on the street, and rookies.

Here's a list of the 4 most recent expansion teams, with their records for years 1 and 2:
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Carolina Panthers

1995 - 7-9
1996 - 12-4

Jacksonville Jaguars

1995 - 4-12
1996 - 9-7

Clevand Browns

1999 - 2-14
2000 - 3-13


Houston Texans

2002 - 4-12
2003 - 5-11

Average Win Record

Year 1 - 4.25 Wins
Year 2 - 7.25 Wins
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Just some food for thought.  The next time you think maybe he's been given so little to work with you might want to consider examples that we're given a whole lot less.  And you may want to rethink what an actual evaluation year looks like.

Am I crazy, or should our coach be expected to outpace expansion level performance?  And would it not be reasonable to think that, if he can't even match it, then maybe he's just an awful coach?

How ZT compares to the Bengals all-time worst head coach:

ZT 3-17-1 (after 21 games)
Dave Shula 8-24 (in first two years)

And, when you consider that Shula was HC when Mike Brown was at the height of his legendary nickel and dime mentality.

ZT needs 5 wins over the next 11 games just to catch up with the Bengals all-time worst. I believe ZT will go down as the new all-time worst Bengals HC in history.