When the Chicago Bears pulled off a blockbuster trade Thursday to acquire four-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons from the Tennessee Titans, the celebration inside Halas Hall was obvious. Miles away in Cincinnati, however, someone else was celebrating just as loudly: Bengals head coach Zac Taylor.
Speaking to the reporters on Friday, Bears offensive coordinator Press Taylor revealed that his older brother called him out of the blue shortly after the trade went public.
“I get a FaceTime from my brother, and we don’t normally talk like that later in the week, with just a huge smile, and I’m like, ‘Thank you, you know, we’re excited.’ He’s like, ‘No, we play the Titans this week.’ That makes a lot more sense why you’re excited. So he’s like, yeah, I’m going to go put in a couple more passes, maybe we’ll see.”
Chicago had just landed one of the NFL’s premier interior disruptors to lead its defensive front. Press Taylor naturally assumed his brother was reaching out to congratulate him on Chicago’s massive roster upgrade.
However, Zac was simply ecstatic that his Bengals, slated to host the 1-6 Titans at Paycor Stadium on Sunday, no longer had to spend four quarters handling a 305-pound defensive tackle. Just 24 hours before the trade, Zac Taylor had spoken to Cincinnati media about the nightmare of preparing for Simmons.
“He’s arguably up there with all of the top guys,” Zac said Wednesday. “He gets off the ball. He’s really difficult in one-on-one situations and double-team situations. Really good against the run. Good against the pass. If you’re not planning for him, you’ll have some problems.”
Simmons Had a History of Troubling Joe Burrow
Simmons has historically been one of the toughest individual matchups Joe Burrow has faced in his career. In the 2021 AFC Divisional Playoff game in Nashville, Simmons sacked Burrow three times and constantly collapsed the A-gaps, freeing up Tennessee’s rushers to drop Burrow an NFL playoff-record nine times in a 19-16 Cincinnati win.
The bad blood carried over into subsequent meetings, including a chippy 2022 matchup in which Simmons was fined by the league for an altercation with center Ted Karras.
The Bengals are dealing with a heavily battered tight end room after losing Erick All Jr. to a torn ACL and Tanner Hudson to Injured Reserve. Protecting Burrow in obvious passing situations was set to be Cincinnati’s single biggest vulnerability on Sunday. There is no denying that the equation changed the second Simmons hopped on a plane to the Midwest.
More on the Bengals
- Cincinnati Bengals’ Passing Game Gained Its Best Chance to Break Loose With Jeffery Simmons trade
- Kyle Dugger Is Out for the Bengals Against the Titans as Budda Baker Trade Talk Lingers
- Andrei Iosivas Eyeing Mid-November Return for Bengals Following Thumb Surgery
- 3 Bold Predictions in the Bengals’ Showdown With the Titans, Starting With Dexter Lawrence
