{"id":238167,"date":"2025-07-26T17:32:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-26T17:32:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/238167\/"},"modified":"2025-07-26T17:32:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T17:32:11","slug":"bengals-nick-saban-connection-emerges-in-stunning-suggestion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/238167\/","title":{"rendered":"Bengals, Nick Saban Connection Emerges in Stunning Suggestion"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The 2025 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/sports\/nfl\" data-sys=\"1\" class=\"multivariate\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NFL<\/a> season has begun with training camp and the Cincinnati Bengals will be an interesting team to watch. After missing the playoffs last season, there is a sense of urgency surrounding the franchise.<\/p>\n<p>Should the Bengals miss the playoffs once again this season, some major changes could come next. Zac Taylor, the team&#8217;s head coach, is likely facing some pressure heading into this year. His job could very well be on the line.<\/p>\n<p>Joe Burrow played at an MVP level last season. That wasn&#8217;t enough to lift Cincinnati into the playoffs. Moving forward, the team will have to figure out how to get back to being a Super Bowl contender like it was just a few short years ago.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"mapping-embed imgPhoto\" id=\"i2690887\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/nick-saban.jpg\" alt=\"Nick Saban\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\"\/><br \/>\nHead coach Nick Saban of the Alabama Crimson Tide reacts to a play during the second quarter against the Georgia Bulldogs in the SEC Championship at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on December 02, 2023 in Atlanta, Georgia.<br \/>\nHead coach Nick Saban of the Alabama Crimson Tide reacts to a play during the second quarter against the Georgia Bulldogs in the SEC Championship at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on December 02, 2023 in Atlanta, Georgia.<br \/>\nPhoto by Kevin C. Cox\/Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Taylor may not be on the &#8220;hot seat,&#8221; but he isn&#8217;t completely safe either. If the team comes up short of expectations, could the Bengals look to bring in a new head coach?<\/p>\n<p>Read more: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/sports\/nfl\/steelers-dk-metcalf-puts-nfl-notice-bold-warning-2104532\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" class=\"multivariate\">Steelers&#8217; DK Metcalf Puts NFL on Notice With Bold Warning<\/a><\/p>\n<p>With that being said, who could the team look to replace Taylor with?<\/p>\n<p>A shocking suggestion has been made. That suggestion is none other than legendary college football head coach Nick Saban, who has started coming up in rumors about a potential return to coaching in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/sports\/nfl\" data-sys=\"1\" class=\"multivariate\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NFL<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Nick Wright, a notable sports analyst, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/TheHerd\/status\/1947732172590420077\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" class=\"multivariate\">spoke out and revealed<\/a> that he believes Cincinnati would be a potential destination for Saban.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll throw a different one at you that is same state, different team. If this coming year goes the way I think it might for Cincinnati, I think Nick Saban is an interesting idea there,&#8221; Wright said. &#8220;Listen, got to coach up the defense, got to have someone to actually have as big of a voice in the organization as the owner, got to clean up some of the nonsense going in the years they deal with every year, again, most of which is owner-related. And let Joe and Jamar handle the offense. Almost offload the offense to them.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He continued on, sharing his belief that Saban would want to join a team that can compete right away after taking over.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;You handle the details, finding some of the edges in young players from the college game that you&#8217;re very aware of their skillset, and coach up the defense. Because the only point that you made that I disagree with is, if I&#8217;m Nick Saban and I want to do this, I&#8217;m not that interested in a studs-to-the-top-down rebuild. I&#8217;m much more interested in, I&#8217;ve got three or four years. Let me see if I can have a contender immediately. I think the Bengals who, if they miss the playoffs again, probably will be looking for a new coach. I think they could be an attractive one.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Read more: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/sports\/nfl\/cleveland-browns-may-have-their-next-baker-mayfield-2104479\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" class=\"multivariate\">Cleveland Browns May Have Their Next Baker Mayfield<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Saban put together an elite college football coaching career. However, his two years in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/sports\/nfl\" data-sys=\"1\" class=\"multivariate\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NFL<\/a> with the Miami Dolphins did not go well.<\/p>\n<p>He may not choose to return to coaching. But, if he does, he might have interest in heading back to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/sports\/nfl\" data-sys=\"1\" class=\"multivariate\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NFL<\/a> and proving to himself that he can succeed at that level as well.<\/p>\n<p>In that scenario, the Bengals could be one of the best possible landing spots for Saban.<\/p>\n<p>For more Cincinnati Bengals and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/sports\/nfl\" class=\"multivariate\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NFL<\/a> news, head over to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/sports\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" class=\"multivariate\">Newsweek Sports.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2025 NFL season has begun with training camp and the Cincinnati Bengals will be an interesting team&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":238168,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2053],"tags":[228,227,256,2296,7,6,8342],"class_list":{"0":"post-238167","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cincinnati-bengals","8":"tag-bengals","9":"tag-cincinnati","10":"tag-cincinnati-bengals","11":"tag-cincinnatibengals","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-nick-saban"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114920734407959447","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238167\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}