Leading a NFL team and doing it for 10 or more years are two totally different things. Especially in the day and age of “what have you done for me lately," whether it's in this league and professional sports in general. Marvin Lewis has been the head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals since 2003. He inherited a team that was dismal to say the least. From 1991-02, the franchise forged a 55-137 under four different head coaches and failed to post a winning mark in any of those 12 seasons. Since then, Lewis owns a 118-103-3 regular-season mark with the franchise in 14 campaigns.
He has more victories than any head coach in the history of the franchise, which will begin its 50th season on the field this fall.
Success and failures
This past season, the Cincinnati Bengals finished a disappointing 6-9-1 and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2010. That stretch of postseason appearances is a franchise record. The team won division titles in 2005, ’09, ’13 and ’15. That latter year saw Lewis’ team tie the team mark with 12 regular-season wins. All told, the 58-year-old coach has taken the club to the playoffs seven times. Unfortunately, each one of those appearances resulted in defeat.
Some of those setbacks were due to the strangest of circumstances such as the 18-16 AFC Wild Card loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2015.
With victory staring them in the face, defenders such as linebacker Vontaze Burfict and cornerback Adam Jones lost their cool in the closing moments. A pair of 15-yard penalties put the Steelers in position to kick a game-deciding field goal. It was an ugly loss in front of the home fans. It also means that the Bengals still haven’t won a postseason game since 1990.
What about the immediate future?
So are the Cincinnati Bengals ready to make a change at head coach? The team comes off its first losing campaign since 2010. It’s also a club that had lost its share of talent via free agency the last few years. Wide receivers Mohamed Sanu and Marvin Jones signed with the Atlanta Falcons and Detroit Lions, respectively, a year ago.
This offseason, left tackle Andrew Whitworth (Los Angeles Rams), right guard Kevin Zeitler (Cleveland Browns), defensive tackle Domata Peko (Denver Broncos) and running back Rex Burkhead (New England Patriots) were among the defections.
This is still a talented team on both sides of the ball. Lewis has quarterback Andy Dalton and a strong supporting cast at his disposal. On defense, it’s a unit that has star defensive tackle Geno Atkins, Burfict and newcomers such as middle linebacker Kevin Minter. But it’s also a team that can’t seem to get out of its own way sometimes. Part of that falls on Lewis. Another subpar showing by this club could see a change at the top.
