CINCINNATI -- There are many ways Cincinnati Bengals coach Zac Taylor handles the despair of losing a game.
He'll rewatch the game in his office upstairs at Paycor Stadium. He might call a friend and vent about how things shook out. Taylor could make the 15-minute drive home and live in silence.
Or sometimes, he doesn't go home at all.
Last year, when the Bengals lost at home on "Monday Night Football" to the Washington Commanders, the third straight loss to open the season, Taylor slept in the office
"You're just so miserable," Taylor said on Friday. "You just allow yourself to be miserable for one night. The next day, you gotta go."
On Sunday, Taylor will officially embark on his seventh season as Bengals head coach. In his tenure, he has run the gamut of experiences one can have in that position: from having the worst record in the NFL to winning a conference championship and being a few plays away from hoisting the Super Bowl trophy.
Last season, despite an MVP-caliber year from quarterback Joe Burrow, the Bengals missed the playoffs for the second straight season. Leading into this weekend's road game against the Cleveland Browns (1 p.m. ET, Fox), Burrow acknowledged the narrative around the team has shifted unfavorably. And no matter the external pressure or expectations on Taylor or the Bengals to deliver this season, the 42-year-old is more concerned about avoiding the feeling he hates.
"You put all the time and effort into everything that we have done, all offseason, all training camp, all week this week -- you can't lose," Taylor said during a break in Friday's schedule. "It's devastating. And then you got to pick yourself up and go again."
Taylor has shown a knack to soak up pressure to lead the Bengals to some of the franchise's greatest heights in decades. In his first two seasons, he won six games total. The following season, Cincinnati clinched its first playoff berth since 2015, won its first postseason game since the 1990 season and played in the franchise's first Super Bowl in 33 seasons.
Since then, the Bengals have struggled to get back to that point. In 2024, Cincinnati finished with a 9-8 record and missed the playoffs for the first time that Burrow finished a season healthy. Taylor shook up the coaching staff, replacing longtime defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo with Al Golden, a former assistant during the team's Super Bowl run.
At the team's annual preseason media luncheon, Bengals team president Mike Brown was asked about Taylor's first six years with the club.
"He has the same goal I have," Brown said July 21. "He wants to do everything I want to do. I don't want to burden him beyond that.
"We'll just have to wait and see where it goes. But I'm looking forward to the season, and he is, too."
The skill of soaking up pressure and high expectations has been honed dating back to his playing days as Nebraska's starting quarterback. The jeers didn't come from walking into hostile environments such as Texas A&M or USC. At times, Taylor heard boos. But by the end of his two-year run with the Cornhuskers, he led Nebraska to the Big 12 title game and was the conference's Offensive Player of the Year.
"It's a pressure unlike any other and you either got to be for it or against it," Taylor said in March at the NFL's annual league meetings. "If you can be for it and develop the thick skin and the ability to lead and the toughness that comes with it, you can do some great things with your life, whether you're in business or coaching or playing in the NFL."
If the Bengals win Sunday, it will match the total number of victories Cincinnati has earned in the first two weeks of the season under Taylor's tenure. The 1-11 record during that span is the worst in the NFL.
But when the Bengals leave their hotel Sunday morning and make the trek toward the edge of Lake Erie, Taylor won't feel the pressure. The only trait Taylor says he cares about is that he can endure all of that.
That will allow him to soak up the atmosphere in Cleveland: the bus ride into the stadium, fans primed to cheer against him, being on the sideline for the national anthem. For Taylor, it's the greatest feeling in the world that very few get to experience.
And he wants to have that feeling, even if it comes with long and lonely nights after a loss, for as long as possible.
"You have to coach every single day like your career is on the line," Taylor said in March. "'Pressure' is not the word I like. It's just the job.
"And that's what I like about the job. I don't want anybody else to have this job. I want it."