The Truth About Sean McVay And Zac Taylor's Relationship
Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay has already made history as the youngest NFL coach to ever take a team to the Super Bowl, which he did in the 2018 season, per CBS Sports. Now, at 36 years old, he stands to become the youngest head coach to ever win a Super Bowl should his team prevail. Either way, the matchup is historic. CBS Sports reports that February 13 will be the first time the Super Bowl will features two head coaches under 40 — and it's especially noteworthy because the 2021 Super Bowl was a showdown between the league's two oldest coaches: Andy Reid and Bruce Arians.
Both McVay and the Cincinnati Bengals' head coach Zac Taylor have experienced meteoric success since taking over their respective franchises. McVay has led the Rams to three playoff appearances and two Super Bowls in just five years, per Sports Illustrated. Taylor took the Bengals from a 4-11 season in 2020 all the way to the Super Bowl in the 2021 season. His charisma and talent is such that quarterback Joe Burrow was quick to affirm Taylor as "the guy I want to be with," per Bengals.com. Likewise, tight end CJ Uzomah told the website, "Our belief in him comes from his belief in us." Both coaches have that special X factor and are making a case for the value of youth in the NFL. McVay and Taylor have something else in common, too, in that they once worked together.
Zac Taylor coached the Los Angeles Rams with Sean McVay
According to NFL.com, Zac Taylor previously worked under Sean McVay as assistant wide receivers coach and quarterbacks coach for the Los Angeles Rams in 2017 and 2018. The experience was instrumental enough that Taylor later called it "the best two years of my life," per Twitter. "It was fun, you loved coming into the building. [Sean] really showed a lot of us young guys that you can do it your own way," Taylor added, via NFL.com. Similarly, McVay held a high opinion of Taylor, and spoke glowingly of his former assistant coach prior to the AFC Championship game. "I love Zac Taylor, I'm so happy for him," McVay said, according to CBS Sports. "I think [the Bengals] play with a swagger and confidence similar to the way Zac carries himself. He's so steady, he's always so neutral. ...I think they thrive off that, they've got great players and I'm so happy for Zac."
It's easy to point to Taylor's success this season and laud him as a great coach, but McVay saw the makings of a champion even when the Bengals were in the midst of a losing season in 2020. Per ESPN, this occurred after quarterback Joe Burrow's season-ending injury, when the Bengals' third-string and second-string quarterbacks managed to snag tough wins. "Those are the things to me that say, 'This guy's got all the right stuff in him,'" McVay said, according to ESPN. "That's when it's the most difficult as a leader."
Sean McVay has had a huge impact on the NFL
Interestingly, Zac Taylor isn't the only winning coach in the NFL to have been molded by Sean McVay. ESPN reports that the Green Bay Packers' Matt LaFleur and the Los Angeles Chargers' Brandon Stanley also spent time learning at his side. "The joke is if you have a cup of coffee with Sean McVay, you're going to be a head coach in the NFL. There's a lot of truth to that," Taylor joked on Twitter. The Bengals' head coach has also expressed that McVay's impact on the league cannot be overstated. "Sean affects everyone he's around. It's more than just scheme. He ... gets the most out of the people, players and coaches that are around him every day," Taylor said, according to ESPN.
McVay might be what these winning coaches all have in common, but he has remained humble. Not only that, but he does not view guys like Taylor as competition in a negative way. "These guys are co-workers where we positively pour into one another," McVay said in a media conference, per CBS Sports. "Whether it's ... Brandon Stanley, Zac Taylor, Matt LaFleur, I learned more from them than those guys have from me." Taylor isn't totally trying to emulate his one-time mentor, either. "If I try to be Sean McVay, I'm going to fail," he told ESPN. Fans can see if the apprentice truly becomes the master come February 13.