Marvin Lewis plans to leave Cincinnati Bengals after season
By Emile Pierce
As the season winds down, so does the future of Marvin Lewis. With the Bengals missing the playoffs again, it’s time to move on.
If you’re a Bengals fan and you’re tired of the status quo, your time has come. According to ESPN, Marvin Lewis will be a memory of the franchise. After 15 years patrolling the sidelines for the Bengals Lewis is undoubtedly thinking about putting the coaching shoes on the shelf. His latest stint with Cincinnati has left many fans wishing he would have done it sooner.
The 2017 campaign has been one of the worst in Lewis’ tenure with the Bengals. After suffering a shutout in the home opener (a 20-0 loss to Baltimore), the season has gotten progressively worse.
With the offense sputtering and stalling, Lewis decided to fire offensive coordinator Ken Zampese. That move, in retrospect, was the beginning of the end. Cincinnati had a brief turnaround after Bill Lazor was appointed the duties and went 2-1, bringing a glimmer of hope. But, after the Bye Week, the Bengals returned to their losing ways and lost to the hated Steelers. The very next week, Cincy struggled with the Indianapolis Colts. That win came courtesy of a late interception by Carlos Dunlap.
Not soon enough
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Lewis and owner Mike Brown will sit down at the end of the season and have their friendly review of what has gone wrong and right with the club. In all honesty, there should be no reason Lewis is offered another contract by Brown. Outside of injuries, there has been a gross mishandling of the talent the Bengals possess.
There have been several teams under the guidance of Marvelous Marv that had the juice to do some damage in the playoffs. But, each year, the same one-and-done scenario has been the hallmark for Lewis and the Bengals.
The latest disaster to mar the image of the franchise was 2015. After posting a 12-4 record, Lewis and the Bengals failed to move beyond the Wild Card round. By losing to the Steelers again, he proved his inability to get things done after the regular season. Now, with two seasons of subpar football, it’s truly time for Lewis to walk away or move to another position within the organization.
Coaches need to move on also
Lewis isn’t alone in his soon to be job search. Most of the Bengals coaches won’t be brought back. That has to put a question mark on who will be the next coach moved up from the ranks. Most of the talk surrounds defensive coordinator Paul Guenther being promoted to head coach. But, there’s also a chance that Lazor gets a shot at the opportunity. Lazor helped Andy Dalton regain some of the confidence he lost under Zampese.
Whoever gets the nod will probably be vastly underpaid. Lewis, according to ESPN, has hinted that his coaches have been “treated unfairly” when it comes to being compensated.
If that is truly the case, Bengals fans are already familiar with the penny-pinching ways of the Brown family. If money is the real reason this franchise gets blown up, so be it. But, there needs to be a changing of the guard. A new face with a different philosophy could change the stagnant air around Paul Brown Stadium.
Lewis has helped the Bengals return to respectability. But, his inability to win in the postseason has kept them a question mark in the minds of fans.