LAS VEGAS _ Other than Vegas headliner Carrot Top surfacing on a media bus in full regalia headed to Monday’s opening night,

the first Sin City Super Bowl got off to a rather staid start by The Strip’s standards.

But what 49ers passing game coordinator Klint Kubiak has brought to Vegas for Sunday’s Super Bowl against the Chiefs is apparently not going to stay in Vegas.

Multiple reports have him headed to New Orleans to take the Saints offensive coordinator job as the Zac Taylor coaching tree continues to grow.

“Zac, honestly, is one of the main reasons I’m coaching right now,

” Kubiak insisted Monday night in a small, quiet space of raucous Allegiant Stadium.

“I got to be in a room with him every day, sit right next to him,

got to watch him work, saw him interact with the players.

I said to myself, ‘I want to do it the way Zac is doing it.'”

Zacmen have been in demand this offseason.

A few organizations interviewed Bengals offensive coordinator Brian Callahan before the Titans wouldn’t allow him to leave their building and hired him as head coach.

Before Dan Pitcher was announced as Callahan’s replacement,

a few organizations were interested in hiring him as a coordinator for the Bengals’ quarterbacks.

Following an NFL-best 113 passer rating this season under his guidance as 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy,

Kubiak apparently interviewed for offensive coordinator positions with the Patriots and Bears before making his way to New Orleans.

Four years Taylor’s junior,

Kubiak, 36, was a part of the storied Texas A&M graduate assistant office in 2010—a “closet,

” as Taylor has dubbed it. Taylor was the tight end general manager.

The offensive line’s general assistant was Ben Martin,

a former assistant coach with the Bengals.

Son of Texans head coach Gary Kubiak,

Kubiak served as general assistant to rising wide receivers coach Troy Walters,

who is currently the esteemed wide receivers coach for the Bengals.

Must-See Play:

Stroud’s 24-yard touchdown pass to Chase turns the wide receiver toward the camera operator
Klint Kubiak remarked,

“Your dad is a huge influence in everything.”

“As a young coach, Zac Taylor got me started.”

Though they haven’t worked together as coaches since College Station,

they have stayed close.

Throughout the past eight seasons, Kubiak has advanced with three different clubs.

He has spent the last three as the offensive coordinator for the Vikings and the passing game coordinator for Denver and San Francisco.

Although Taylor and Kubiak have played for separate teams,

their Xs and Os are from the same West Coast garden, so they might not be all that close to the tree.

Furthermore, Kubiak stole more than Xs and Os from Taylor,

who was only four years older at the time.

Kubiak adds,

“Zac was a successful college football player who didn’t have to take me under his wing and show me how to draw on the computer,

use Power Point, turn on the copier, block power, and how the quarterback reads the plays,

and he did.”

As a graduate assistant, he worked.

Absent ego. All he wanted was to be a competent coach.

He truly drew me in.

I was inspired to absorb as much information as possible after realizing how capable and intelligent he was.”

Taylor chuckled and responded no when asked if 40 was too young to be a tree a few weeks earlier,

following Callahan’s graduation. However,

he went on to say, very seriously,

that every coach is a composite of the coaches that they work under and with.

The thought of being perched on a tree didn’t bother Kubiak on Monday as he got ready to coach in his first Super Bowl.

“I simply consider him a buddy,

and I’m incredibly proud of all that he has achieved.

I have seen how he handles people.

His accomplishment doesn’t surprise me,” Kubiak remarked.

LEWIS VEGAS: Marvin Lewis, Taylor’s predecessor in Cincinnati, has his own tree with Mike Zimmer, Hue Jackson, Paul Guenther, Jay Gruden, and Darrin Simmons. He also includes Antonio Pierce, the next head coach of the Raiders, as a branch.

Lewis left Las Vegas on Sunday as the Super Bowl swept through the city,

taking on the role of assistant head coach for the Raiders (which he prefers to refer to as “assistant to the head coach”).

He will return the following week once the dust settles,

continuing to assist Pierce in taking over as interim head coach of Vegas.

However, he will accept many calls from Pierce in the interim.

He was reminded of a particular relationship from his 16 seasons in Cincinnati by their early Monday morning conversation.

Though he didn’t have an official assistant, Mike Brown,

the president of the Bengals,

provided him with invaluable insight and knowledge spanning more than 60 years in the NFL.

“Yes, I did possess one.

Regarding a partnership that produced four division titles and seven postseason appearances,

Lewis remarks, “He just owned the team.”

That kind of job is what it will be. I’m Mike, yes,

but I’m not the proprietor. That’s what AP and I do—we have daily conversations.”

Lots of respect for one other.

Lewis and Brown still have enough conversations.

It was only last week that they spoke. Troy Blackburn,

the vice president of the Bengals, and Lewis spoke the other day.

A few days earlier,

executive vice president Katie Blackburn contacted him to let him know that Bill Scanlon,

the Bengals’ longtime chief financial officer, had passed away.

This season, the Raiders will visit Cincinnati,

where Lewis will make his first return to Paycor Stadium as a member of a different team since taking over as the Bengals’ all-time winningest coach. However,

he returned to the facility for the first time since his tenure ended with the 2018 season during the Ring of Honor ceremony the previous year,

when he paid an ownership visit to Brown’s office.

“It was so much fun. Lewis says,

“I’ll probably be up in the press box when I get back.”

The four seasons that Lewis and the Giants’ Super Bowl linebacker Pierce spent together at Arizona State preceded Pierce’s departure for the Raiders in a move that they both considered.

Following Arizona State’s season,

Lewis replaced Pierce as the interim head coach late last year,

bringing with him a wealth of NFL experience. He still has a lot to give.

Antonio is an extremely intelligent, diligent, and hardworking man.

“I pledged to assist him in this,” declares Lewis.

“Everyone who talked to me wanted to know if I would still be able to be involved in it if he was hired on a full-time basis.

Owner Mark Davis, team president Sandra Morgan,

and the two alumni included on the search committee,

Richard Seymour and Ken Herock, thought it was crucial.

That was when it was difficult for me to falter.

I had a great time with the guys,

the environment, and the coaching staff.

It was a lot of fun for me. Being with grownups again was fantastic.”

SLANTS AND SCREENS:

There were two ardent supporters of Bengals backup quarterback Jake Browning at Allegient Stadium on Monday night as he led the team to a 4-3 victory while Joe Burrow was out injured.

For his two seasons in Minnesota,

Kubiak coached his quarterbacks,

and when Browning almost defeated the Chiefs in the game before Patrick Mahomes caught him in the fourth quarter,

Steve Spagnuolo, the defensive coordinator for the Chiefs,

placed an arm around him in Kansas City.

“I’m rather pleased with his accomplishments.

Not at all surprised.

Seeing him take advantage of his final stretch was entertaining.

How assertive he was and how he used it,” Kubiak remarked.

There were two ardent supporters of Bengals backup quarterback Jake Browning at Allegient Stadium on Monday night as he led the team to a 4-3 victory while Joe Burrow was out injured.

For his two seasons in Minnesota,

Kubiak coached his quarterbacks,

and when Browning almost defeated the Chiefs in the game before Patrick Mahomes caught him in the fourth quarter, Steve Spagnuolo,

the defensive coordinator for the Chiefs,

placed an arm around him in Kansas City.

“I’m rather pleased with his accomplishments.

Not at all surprised. Seeing him take advantage of his final stretch was entertaining.

How assertive he was and how he used it,” Kubiak remarked.

In other words, Kubiak managed two of the NFL’s top five passers in terms of yards per pass this past season.

Purdy’s score of 9.6 was the highest since Kurt Warner’s Greatest Show on Turf from 25 years ago,

while Browning’s score of 8.0 was in a tie with Lamar Jackson, the likely MVP.

In the face of Spagnuolo’s top-five team,

Browning’s playmaking put the Bengals ahead 17–7.

This validated his gushing pregame remarks that the Bengals system reminded him of how the Patriots produced points without Tom Brady.

He remembered what he’d said to Browning on Monday night as he walked off the field.

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