Zac Taylor on benching Andy Dalton: “That’s not something I’m going to talk about right now”

For the seventh straight week, the Bengals lost a football game, primarily because their starting quarterback was outplayed.

Andy Dalton’s latest performance featured three interceptions in a four-play span in the fourth quarter that led to 10 points for the Jaguars, which unsurprisingly, matched the final score differential.

Minutes after the loss, head coach Zac Taylor was asked about benching Dalton for Ryan Finley in the near future, and didn’t exactly provide a clear answer.

Notice how he didn’t say no or rule out the idea altogether.

This contest will go down as a two-score game, but the Bengals were very much in this game leading up to Dalton’s implosion, which has been a consistent theme for this season. Three of their previous four losses have been close games, and ones where victory could’ve been achieved if the offense could muster some kind of consistency.

Say what you want about the offensive line, the running game, or a lack of A.J. Green, but the fault goes more on Dalton than other any individual player.

It’s not about winning games at this point, the Bengals need to properly evaluate the talent they have, and playing a quarterback that devalues his supporting cast prohibits them from doing that.

Dalton has been that kind of signal-caller for some time, this game was just an egregious confirmation for anyone who was on the fence about it. And it will should give Taylor plenty to think about this week.