Though his Bengals squad came up short against the Rams in Super Bowl LVI on Sunday night, head coach Zac Taylor believes the team's competitive window is wide open.
"We think we have a really special group that is going to continue to build on this and fight to get back to games like this," Taylor said in an interview shortly after Cincinnati's 23-20 loss.
With core offensive pieces like Joe Burrow, Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, Taylor's positive attitude about the future is certainly warranted.
After all, just two years after finishing with a 2-14 record, the franchise found itself with a fourth-quarter advantage in the final contest of the NFL season.
When the conversation turned to explaining what prevented Cincinnati from keeping that advantage and leaving SoFi Stadium as champions, Taylor kept it simple.
"They just made a couple plays and some of the penalties got us down there in the end," Taylor said of the contest's decisive drive, which concluded with Matt Stafford's go-ahead touchdown toss to Cooper Kupp. "That’s just the way it goes."
With the loss, the Bengals officially fell to 0-3 in Super Bowl appearances.
