How Bengals' Zac Taylor used 49ers as model for Cincinnati's evolution
How Bengals' Zac Taylor used 49ers as model for Cincinnati's evolution originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
There are a lot of parallels between what Kyle Shanahan has done with the 49ers and what Bengals coach Zac Taylor has accomplished so far in Cincinnati.
And there's a pretty simple reason for that. Taylor, who was hired by the Bengals ahead of the 2019 NFL season, used Shanahan and the 49ers as his blueprint for building Cincinnati into a perennial AFC contenders.
"I was in LA in 2017 when Shanahan got to the 49ers, and so you had a chance to see their evolution of their systems," Taylor told reporters on Wednesday. "I know they had quarterback injuries and stuff the first two years and the third year, they went to the Super Bowl. I remember showing our guys, in 2020, kind of the evolution of San Francisco.
"The first year they were learning the system and at times, you could tell guys were learning and some of the crispness wasn't there. The second year it really ramped up. And then I showed clips of their Super Bowl game against Kansas City, of just why they were in the Super Bowl, attention to details, everything was just so good and just, 'Hey, this is part of our process.' "
Taylor was the Los Angeles Rams' assistant wide receivers coach in 2017 when the 49ers hired Shanahan as their coach and John Lynch as the general manager. Taylor spent 2018 in LA as the quarterbacks coach before taking the Bengals job.
So Taylor got an up-close look at how a young coach can create a foundation for sustained success.
The 49ers went a combined 10-22 in Shanahan's first two seasons in Santa Clara, but they made a huge leap in his third year, going 13-3 and making it to the Super Bowl, where they lost a heartbreaker to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Taylor's trajectory in Cincinnati is eerily similar. The Bengals went 6-25-1 in his first two seasons before reaching the Super Bowl in 2021, where they lost to the Rams, his former team.
"Our first year, we weren't very good, our attention to detail wasn't great, our level of coaching at times wasn't great, 2020 we made some progress and then here's the step we've got to make in 2021," Taylor told reporters. "There's a path here. There's a pathway that San Francisco's kind of showing people how it can occur. And sure enough, maybe someone was showing clips of our Super Bowl game in Year 3.
"So I've always looked at San Francisco as a good template of how you can build and how you can continue to evolve and get to where you want to be and maintain a level of consistency. They've really been the standard of that. They've maintained that level of consistency now since 2019 all the way through. They've played in Super Bowls and [conference] championship games and really done a good job with John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan."
RELATED: Five 49ers to watch vs. Bengals
The 49ers and Bengals were on a collision course to meet in the Super Bowl last season, but both teams lost in their respective conference championship games.
Now both teams are trying to recapture that magic and make another deep playoff run. But the Bengals have struggled early in the 2023 season and enter Sunday's matchup at Levi's Stadium with a 3-3 record, though they won their last two games against the Arizona Cardinals and Seattle Seahawks. The 49ers come into the game with a 5-2 record but have lost two straight.
On Sunday, Shanahan and the 49ers hope they have a blueprint to beat the Bengals that Taylor and Co. can't keep up with.
Download and follow the 49ers Talk Podcast
