Zac Taylor’s decision to kick a field goal to avoid a shutout made some funny history

Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor made an interesting decision.

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Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor did a funny thing during his team’s 27-3 loss to the Baltimore Ravens in Week 5.

Down 27-0 with less than a minute left in regulation, Taylor sent out kicker Randy Bullock on a 4th-and-7 look from the Baltimore 20 and settled for a field goal — all in the name of avoiding a shutout.

It was funny at the time and Taylor directly addressed why he did it after the game, per The Athletic’s Jay Morrison:

“You’ve got to be smart there. We are in the fourth quarter, we are down four scores, and he has taken a lot of hits. Again, they calmed down a little bit on defense, there were some pressures at the end, but I thought our guys did a good job regrouping on the last drive in the fourth quarter. (We) put together a nice drive, had to convert that fourth-and-1 on the throw. Guys did a nice job with some of the short-yardage situations. That was the world we wanted to be living in, to be honest with you. We were third-and-long, we wanted to be in those third-and-one, fourth-and-ones and be aggressive. We just didn’t give ourselves that opportunity until it was too late.”

But the historical context of the move makes it rather hilarious. As one can unearth through a resource like Pro Football Reference, that was only the second time since 1994 a team opted for a field goal like that late in a game strictly to avoid a shutout:

While protecting Joe Burrow seemed to be the name of the game with the move, it also came on the heels of Taylor doing something similar recently by simply accepting a tie game. Presumably, players don’t care much whether they were technically shut out or put up a field goal in a 27-3 whipping.

If nothing else, it’s a funny bit of modern history for Taylor.