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Is Marvin Lewis the reason for the Bengals troubles?

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smartone29's picture
October 14, 2016 at 10:20am
86 Comments

On Mike and Mike this morning, they were doing a section about what was more likely. One of the questions that they got was this, "Will the Patriots miss the playoffs, or will Marvin Lewis be fired?"

Golic started out by saying that they never wish or even talk about whether a guy should lose his job, but he had to say Lewis, because the Patriots were making the playoffs (why shouldn't they?).

This spurred a thought in my mind. I've been a Bengals fan since I was a kid. One of the first memories that I have as a sports fan was the '02 Bengals going 2-14. Not a good sports memory.

My point is that it didn't take long for Lewis to get things turned around. He had an absolute mess on his hands, but it still only took 3 years for him to turn the Bengals into contenders. Playoff record aside, he has also had some rotten luck with injuries/personnel (Palmer's knee/elbow, David Pollack's broken neck, Tab Perry, Keith Rivers, etc.). I'm definitely of the mindset that without Marvin Lewis guidance and direction, the Bengals would definitely not have been anywhere close to the playoffs for the last five years. Since 2014, Mike Brown handed over all football decisions to Lewis, and Lewis and Duke Tobin are the reasons behind the consistently stellar draft classes the Bengals have brought in.

Are the Bengals currently in a slump? Yes, and it won't get any easier for at least this week since we are playing a pissed off Tom Brady in his home opener. And I genuinely understand that the coach is the first person to get the blame when things go wrong (a la, Todd Richards with #CBJ). But good grief, cut the man some slack. We lost some pretty major personnel to free agency, including our #2 WR who is doing a pretty damn good job replacing a certain freaking Calvin "Megatron" Johnson. We have been consistently churning out coordinators that go on to be head coaches (Zimmer, Gruden, Hue). We have created a factory that churns out some really good products; unfortunately, we don't have the cap to keep all of it.

I don't think that Marvin should lose his job if the Bengals miss the playoffs this year. I know that I am probably in the minority, but hey, this is 'Merica, and you're entitled to my opinion (totally kidding). Either way, just my #take.

Thoughts?

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