playDo the Bengals have any shot to beat the Chiefs? (1:12)
Kimes explains that the only chance for Cincinnati to beat KC is on the offense. There is a time and a place for this.
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In the private room of a restaurant in the Cincinnati neighborhood of Hyde Park, the coach of the Cincinnati Bengal went with his gut.
The chef at E+O Kitchen had to trust his gut. He knew one of the items that the chef would choose as part of the party.
It was a salad that was a staple for Taylor in the city since he arrived at the University of Cincinnati.
It was a salad that offered Taylor something to look forward to during the down times, including the worst season in franchise history. It has been something for Taylor to enjoy. If Cincinnati can beat the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday. It will be part of the celebration when it makes its first Super Bowl in three decades.
If there is a metaphor for how the Bengals have transformed from a bottom dweller to a Super Bowl contender in three seasons, it might have something to do with how they learned.
It is called the E+O Famous Crispy Brussels. The original E+O location in Chicago was bought and re-created in Cincinnati in 2015.
It is the culmination of frying the two vegetables for 30 and 45 seconds, and combining them with purple cabbage, red onion, Fresno chilies and jalapenos, and a chili-lime vinaigrette. Aglibot died of a heart attack in 2020. People can change out the shrimp with salmon, steak or chicken for an upcharge of $18.
Tim Weiss, E+O's director of operations, said that Chef Rod would probably strike him down because he just told him.
When he first arrived in the city, Taylor loved the original version of the salad, and when he was hired as the quarterbacks coach by the Cincinnati Bengals, he found his way back to E+O.
Taylor said that it was the first meal he had when he came back to Cincinnati.
Taylor and Brian Callahan went there for an early dinner one evening. Taylor recommended the salad. The third-year coach said everyone fell in love with it. Taylor insisted that the salad at E+O was the best, even though he ate the vegetable at places where they just fry the s--- out of them.
He ordered it and I tried it. It was great.
E+O became a go-to option for lunch delivery among the coaches of the Bengals. Taylor ordered the salad for the entire staff on a Thursday evening.
The meals gave Taylor brief happiness in a miserable year. The longest losing streak to start a season in the history of the franchise was 11 games. Cincinnati was a bad team by the end of the year. The coaching staff had a lot to learn.
Taylor was fresh off helping the Rams get to the Super Bowl. Taylor had never been a full-time coach. Neither had Lou Anarumo, who was hired to lead the defense.
The pressure is on you to perform and win every week, and you don't really know what you're made of, and how to work through conflicts of the job until you start.
It became clear that the team needed a complete change in order to be competitive again. Taylor benched long-time starting quarterback Andy Dalton in favor of a fourth-round pick.
The timing could not have been worse. The lack of time for his agent to find him a new team was the reason why he was upset with how close the decision was to the trade deadline. The starter was named after Finley after he struggled. The Cincinnati team finished with the worst record in the league, and the first pick in the draft was taken by LSU's Burrow.
Taylor said the biggest lesson he learned was the importance of building quality relationships.
It becomes more difficult to overcome adversity if there is no communication between the coaches and players.
There were more tough moments in the next season. Dunlap, one of the best defensive ends in franchise history, became so deep in a disagreement with the coaching staff that he had to be traded. The most expensive free-agent signing in team history, D.J. Reader, and the starting quarterback as a rookies, both suffered season-ending injuries.
The two years of hardship has galvanized our team, strengthened our team and put them in a spot where they said, "You know what?" "We're capable of more," said Callahan.
We can be better.
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During the 2021 season, there were two times when Cincinnati could have buckled. One of the worst upsets in franchise history occurred when the Cincinnati Bengals lost to the New York Jets before their Week 10 bye. Cincinnati had a two-game skid in November that dropped them to 6-7 and threatened their playoff chances.
The core parts of the coaching staff paid off when the Cincinnati team secured a playoff spot, thanks to the patience of the front office. In the final four games of the season, Cincinnati won three of them, including a thrilling 34-31 win over the Kansas City Chiefs that allowed them to rest their starters in the final game of the season.
After the win over Kansas City, Burrow said that Taylor won him over when they first met at the 2020 scouting combine.
He is a great leader of men and a great offensive mind. He does a great job, and I couldn't have asked for a better situation.
For many of the staff who were adapting to new roles, it has been a trial by fire. After being an offensive position coach for most of his time in the NFL, Taylor was praised by Simmons for his ability to gain full command of the locker room.
Simmons said that he thinks that he has taken a huge step this year about learning how to control the whole team. I think that was different when he was here because he had never had to deal with that.
When the staff arrived, they knew failure was going to be part of their growth. Cincinnati might not be a game away from a Super Bowl without it.
It is a sustainable way to build something, when you really start from scratch and dive into the whole thing with everything you have.
It wasn't all what we hoped, but we thought it could be for a million reasons. We ended up where we started.
The salad from E+O has been a part of Taylor's diet for a long time.
Taylor and his wife are frequent E+O customers. The restaurant in Hyde Park is visited by Callahan and his wife once a month and they will place to-go orders around once a week.
Door Dash has a lot of my money.
The signature salad at E+O is very unique and popular in a city where the most famous meal is Cincinnati-style chili.
That is the reason the restaurant is successful today.
Taylor has been at the lowest points in franchise history, but the meal has kept him going. He will push it on others as well.
