Zac Taylor gets emotional after Bengals clinch AFC North

After the Cincinnati Bengals’ thrilling win against the Kansas City Chiefs, head coach Zac Taylor was clearly emotional.

Clinching the AFC North title and earning his first playoff appearance as head coach, Taylor struggled to find words to begin his postgame press conference:

As the sound of the celebration from the locker room made its way through, Taylor gathered himself and began speaking about the effort from his team. Donning his new AFC North Championship hat, Taylor spoke about the rough early start to his tenure as head coach, saying, “We had to earn it. We didn’t skip any steps to get to this point.”

After a combined six wins in his first two seasons, Taylor has guided the Bengals to a 10-win season and an AFC North Championship and you could see a weight lifted off of his shoulders as he sat down to meet with the media.

If you’re a member of Bengals social media, you certainly know that Taylor has been the target of blame for many fans. Those should quiet for now, as he has delivered the first winning season in Cincinnati since 2015.

With a home playoff game now guaranteed, Taylor will seek to end the long, painful playoff drought in Cincinnati in a couple of weeks, If he’s able to do so, I don’t think you’ll see much more chatter about the temperature of his seat.

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