Bengals somehow defend Marvin Lewis deal
In 2003, the Cincinnati Bengals hired Marvin Lewis as head coach, hoping he could turn around what had become the biggest laughingstock in professional sports.
Lewis, who had been a mastermind as defensive coordinator with the Baltimore Ravens during their Super bowl triumph only three years prior, paid immediate dividends. Cincinnati went 8-8 in Lewis’ first two seasons before reaching the postseason in 2005.
Unfortunately, that is where the progress under Lewis comes to a screeching halt. Lewis has helped Cincinnati to the playoffs seven times in his career, and each time the Bengals have lost in the Wild Card round.
In fact, Cincinnati has not won a playoff game since the George Bush Sr. presidency. The last time the Bengals advanced in the postseason was 1990, when Boomer Esiason beat the Houston Oilers on a rainy day at Riverfront Stadium.
Since then, the Oilers have relocated and Riverfront was renamed before being knocked to the ground.
After a second consecutive losing campaign, many believed the Bengals would move on from Lewis, the longest-tenured coach in the NFL save Bill Belichick. This was especially believed prior to Week 15, when reports surfaced that both sides wanted a split. Instead, owner Mike Brown doubled down and signed Lewis — whose contract had run out — to a two-year deal to keep him in town.
The decision drew immediately scrutiny and deserved so, with Lewis showing no ability to advance in January, let alone get there in recent years. The roster should be good enough to compete for a playoff spot instead of going 6-9-1 and 7-9 over the past two seasons, yet Brown kept Lewis around. Now, he’s defending the decision, via NFL.com:
“We had a disappointing season because we didn’t win our share of those close games that we could’ve, should’ve won. I think it goes beyond that, though. I think we tailed off in some areas that brought us down,” Brown told the Cincinnati Enquirer in a one-on-one interview on Friday. “I think those issues are correctable. I don’t think we’re far off. I think we can make the changes that we need to make and quickly rebound to the level where we were a couple years ago.”
Frankly, it’s tough to understand why Bengals fans would come back to the gate in September barring some significant additions in the offseason. This is the same braintrust that drafted wide receiver John Ross with the ninth-overall pick in April, only to talk about going him to cornerback halfway through a disastrous rookie season (Ross had zero catches and was often a healthy inactive).
Cincinnati is hoping to reverse its fortunes and become a true contender in 2018. The problem is, the Bengals are doing nothing different to change course, something their fans are far too familiar with.
