Lean years shaped Super Bowl's Bengals

Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor had a rough start to his tenure but after finding a way to turn things around in a hurry says the lean years helped shape a team who about to contest the Super Bowl.

Hired by Cincinnati in 2019, Taylor went 6-25-1 during his first two seasons as an NFL head coach during which the Bengals finished last in the AFC North but, with the help of quarterback Joe Burrow, has built one of the best young offenses in the NFL.

Taylor, whose club will play the hometown Los Angeles Rams in the Super Bowl on Sunday, said that while there were hard times that tested him along the way, he never doubted the ability of himself or his team.

"You wake up when you are 0-9 or 0-10 on a Monday morning on your way to work and think 'is this really happening?' You never envision it going like this," Taylor told reporters.

"But that's what shaped us to be the way that we are. We have tremendous character in this building from top to bottom and so looking back on it I wouldn't change anything, wouldn't change anything about the process."

Coming into the season, the Bengals were a 150-1 longshot to win this year's NFL's championship game and their turnaround is so rare that they are only the third team to reach the Super Bowl two years after finishing with the NFL's worst record.

The Bengals, who went 10-7 this season, arrived in Los Angeles on Tuesday and Taylor said they are doing their best to avoid the many distractions as they make final preparations before chasing Cincinnati's first Super Bowl championship.

"We've done our best to treat this like any game we've played all year even though I know there's media attention and all those things that are going to make it feel a little bit different," said