The purpose of this article is to present a comprehensive study of the Tavis–Cummings model from a system-theoretic perspective. A typical form of the Tavis–Cummings model is composed of an ensemble of noninteracting two-level systems (TLSs) that are collectively coupled to a common cavity resonator. The associated quantum linear passive system is proposed, whose canonical form reveals typical features of the Tavis–Cummings model, includingN- scaling, dark states, bright states, single-excitation superradiant, and subradiant states. The passivity of this linear system is related to the vacuum Rabi mode splitting phenomenon in Tavis–Cummings systems. On the basis of the linear model, an analytic form is presented for the steady-state output state of the Tavis–Cummings model driven by a single-photon state. Master equations are used to study the excitation properties of the Tavis–Cummings model in the multiexcitation scenario. Finally, in terms of the transition matrix for a linear time-varying system, a computational framework is proposed for calculating the state of the Tavis–Cummings model, which is applicable to the multiexcitation case.