FIRE MARVIN NOW!!!!!!!!!!!

[BengalszoneBilly]

judging from the comments I typically see on this board expecting that kind of patience is laughable.

Not nearly as laughable as waiting since 1968 for a single league championship to land in Cincinnati. WTF are we shooting to be? The Chicago Cubs of the NFL!?! No thanks. IMHO being passive, lovable losers and settling for less is descriptive of a Cubs fan. How would you care to be described.

[damiancasey]

judging from the comments I typically see on this board expecting that kind of patience is laughable.

Not nearly as laughable as waiting since 1968 for a single league championship to land in Cincinnati. WTF are we shooting to be? The Chicago Cubs of the NFL!?! No thanks. IMHO being passive, lovable losers and settling for less is descriptive of a Cubs fan. How would you care to be described.

Believe me - I don't want to be the cubs, the arizona cardinals, or the 90's bengals for that matter. If we have kneejerk reactions to every little speedbump in our development then that's exactly what we are going to be. You can't bring in a new coach every year that things go bad. ML has made a few mistakes but show me a coach that hasn't.

[BengalszoneBilly]

Believe me - I don't want to be the cubs, the arizona cardinals, or the 90's bengals for that matter.

Jesus Christ dude...Cincinnati's mid season record is 3-6. The only thing more '90's than that is Vanilla Ice!

[fattyjay]

For the love of God, people,

Firing ML at this point would be ludicrous!

Crissakes people, try and build a football team from close to scratch (defensively at least) as ML has tried to do. Put your ten best linebackers in place, and then have, say, 5 of the top six, shuffle off to IR/Suspenion. You as the coach will have to, if you can, deal with the fact that your top 3 linebackers are gone and you will now have to play with second string guys. Then take a couple of those guys and lose them as well, leaving not only no depth, but precious little talent. I like Landon as a player, but he is the best we have and there is a significant dropoff after him. What the hell do you, as the brilliant football tacticians that you all seem to think you are, do to fix this mess? Play a rookie safety at linebacker against one of the top teams in the NFL, if not in history, to plug the holes? Do you take a position of strength (DE Geathers) and plug him into one of the many holes, weakening immeasurably one of your strongest defensive positions (DE on one side), so you can try and fill the gaping holes at linebacker with a guy who should not be there? Why don't you guys try dealing with all of that as a coach and see if you have a top 10 D?!! Ya bunch of numbnutz, no big picture seein' MFers!

Damn, sorry guys, I get a little pissed sometimes. Everybody take some of whatever women take for PMS and get back to me. Christ!!

Wow, couldn't agree more! I feel like banging my head against a wall due to the frustrations of this season, but firing a good HC is not the answer. Look what "not settling for mediocrity" did for the Chargers. Marvin is the reason the Bengals have not had 4-12 seasons the past couple of years. The one year they had everyone healthy they won the division with young and inexperienced players. If anyone read the SI article on the Patriots LB's would agree that the Bengals just need more time to develop their younger defensive players. It took Adalius Thomas 3 years before he was a starter in Baltimore, Bruschi played 4 years before he came into his own. The idea that drafting 1st round talent to play right away is just ridiculous. I live in Boulder , CO so I have seen what not having patience can do to a football team. Shanahan took the Broncos to 2 SB's and won. Not because he came in and cleared house, but because they already had the majority of the parts in place. Since then he has tried to recapture that magic and has not succeeded. Many around here blame his roster turnover and coordinator turnover as the main problems. I am not suggesting that improvements are not needed, but stability is something that can't be measured. And for those of you hoping that the Bengals tank the rest of the season just to get a high draft pick, look at how the Colts and Patriots draft. Almost never in the top ten, but they still get quality players at every draft position. Of course the biggest difference in how those teams and the Bengals are run in aquiring talent is that they both have GM's.

[damiancasey]

Believe me - I don't want to be the cubs, the arizona cardinals, or the 90's bengals for that matter.

Jesus Christ dude...Cincinnati's mid season record is 3-6. The only thing more '90's than that is Vanilla Ice!

Cowher and Bellicheat have both had 6-10 seasons with the same teams they then took to the superbowl. It would have been real smart to fire them after those seasons too, huh?

Not to mention Sam Wyche and Forrest Greg who both had bad losing seasons (4-11?) - both (I think) - the year before they took us to the superbowl. Probably would have been a good idea to fire them too, right?

[BengalszoneBilly]

Cowher and Bellicheat have both had 6-10 seasons with the same teams they then took to the superbowl. It would have been real smart to fire them after those seasons too, huh?

You're really not a delusional enough homer to actually believe Marvin Lewis is in the same class as these coaches are you?

[damiancasey]

Cowher and Bellicheat have both had 6-10 seasons with the same teams they then took to the superbowl. It would have been real smart to fire them after those seasons too, huh?

You're really not a delusional enough homer to actually believe Marvin Lewis is in the same class as these coaches are you?

I'll be the first to admit that I'm a Bengals homer - a jaded and cynical homer!

My point is if you are just judging him based on his record then you can't really say he's significantly better or worse than any of those guys.

Why do you think he ISN'T in the same class as any of those coaches? Because he didn't go for it on 4th down 2 weeks ago? Come on!!

[BengalszoneBilly]

Why do you think he ISN'T in the same class as any of those coaches?

The main reason for that is the fact of him being hired in Cincinnati as head coach based for the most part on his abilities as being an alleged "defensive guru". In his entire time here the defense has not improved to the slightest degree. IMHO it may actually be worse. I mean you'd think he'd at least have them in the middle of the defensive ratings by now, but here the Bengals sit, mired in 31st place in the league. When will it end?

[Bobcat Bengal]

If we have kneejerk reactions to every little speedbump in our development then that's exactly what we are going to be. You can't bring in a new coach every year that things go bad. ML has made a few mistakes but show me a coach that hasn't.

thank you!

[damiancasey]

Why do you think he ISN'T in the same class as any of those coaches?

The main reason for that is the fact of him being hired in Cincinnati as head coach based for the most part on his abilities as being an alleged "defensive guru". In his entire time here the defense has not improved to the slightest degree. IMHO it may actually be worse. I mean you'd think he'd at least have them in the middle of the defensive ratings by now, but here the Bengals sit, mired in 31st place in the league. When will it end?

I hear you and you're right - it may be worse. If ML had a 100% healthy squad filled with a bunch of studs I might be more inclined to drink the koolaid. The truth is that he has two big factors which worked against him:

1) He made a bad call on some guys with questionable character. It was a calculated risk and it went boom. ML's is a new coach and he made a mistake. I think he learned from it.

2) He had some injuries. We can talk about whether the strength and conditioning staff needs a "time out" for that one but in reality you really can't plan for this.

3) I think we signed some guys that may not be delivering at the level we expected. This was a part of another thread but I honestly believe there's an element of luck to this...you do your analysis, you do the interviews, you do the planning and sometimes the guys just isn't as advertised. Right now we don't have a guy that other teams need to "plan for" - like a Ray Lewis or a Lawrence Taylor.

Like it or not, there are reasons we're 31st and I think the reasons are understandable. ML isn't perfect but he's smart as hell, he's got an insane work ethic, he's got a great resume, he's got a high level of commitment and I think it's way to soon to write him off.

[COB]

Cowher and Bellicheat have both had 6-10 seasons with the same teams they then took to the superbowl. It would have been real smart to fire them after those seasons too, huh?

You're really not a delusional enough homer to actually believe Marvin Lewis is in the same class as these coaches are you?

I am. But I base my blind homer belief on that rarest of Bengals message board commodities - fact. Marvin has a better won loss record than Belicheat did at this same point in his career. And if Marvin can coach this team, with its defense filled with castoffs, has beens, and never weres, decimated by injury and suspension, to an 8-8 record, I'll put that up as one hell of a coaching job.

[The PatternMaster]

Why do you think he ISN'T in the same class as any of those coaches?

The main reason for that is the fact of him being hired in Cincinnati as head coach based for the most part on his abilities as being an alleged "defensive guru". In his entire time here the defense has not improved to the slightest degree. IMHO it may actually be worse. I mean you'd think he'd at least have them in the middle of the defensive ratings by now, but here the Bengals sit, mired in 31st place in the league. When will it end?

Actually in 2005 the defense was ranked #17 overall and we won the division and went to the playoffs, the first time in 20 years.

When Marvin has HIS guys on the field, the defense can get the job done. When he has to resort to backups, waiver wire players, and cast offs you see what the results are. Please try to see the big picture and see the overall improvement this franchise has made with Marvin as the HC, every coach has a bad year but the good ones can rebound move forward. Last week proved this team will still play hard for Marvin so why would you want to get rid of him.

I know you've beating the "Fire Marvin" drum pretty loud of late, but if you put it away now we can forget you ever took such a blampheous stance against Black Jesus..you got to change that sig too

[BengalszoneBilly]

Actually in 2005 the defense was ranked #17

Where did you find this? Ficticious_stats.com? In 2005 the Bengals defense ranked 28th. Per NFL.com.

...and my sig stays. Sorry.

[HoosierCat]

Actually in 2005 the defense was ranked #17

Where did you find this? Ficticious_stats.com? In 2005 the Bengals defense ranked 28th. Per NFL.com.

...and my sig stays. Sorry.

Possibly a typo. The Bengals D did rank 17th in terms of points allowed -- but in 2006, not 2005. But they were 31st by the traditional yardage measure in 2006.

[The PatternMaster]

Actually in 2005 the defense was ranked #17

Where did you find this? Ficticious_stats.com? In 2005 the Bengals defense ranked 28th. Per NFL.com.

...and my sig stays. Sorry.

It was the 2004/2005 season, so I was wrong about what season but they were ranked 17th..which was an improvement from the year before. So I was wrong but right..

Da link

[ShulaSteakhouse]

And the dead cat bounce and wonderful illusion should be kept alive for at least another week since they're playing Arizona at home next.

Two things.

First, Arizona is a better team with a better record. Only an idiot would count that game as a win before it's played or dismiss the victory as meaningless.

Second, the last couple of games played in Cincinnati have been notable only for how quiet a crowd of 60k can be.

My point is if they "do" win it will go into full blown dead cat territory. And frankly, they should win this game at home, even with the super scrub LB corps. Not saying I would put $ on it though.

[HairOnFire]

My point is if they "do" win it will go into full blown dead cat territory. And frankly, they should win this game at home, even with the super scrub LB corps. Not saying I would put $ on it though.

If you wouldn't put money on your opinion, well....you've just proven what it's worth.

[membengal]

It's not a dead cat situation yet. Not by a long shot.

[BengalszoneBilly]

It's not a dead cat situation yet.

No, not yet. But they sure have coughed up a lot of hairballs...

My apologies to Hoosier for stealing his Bill The Cat sig pic.

[HairOnFire]

It's not a dead cat situation yet. Not by a long shot.

Perhaps we need to define what a dead cat situation is.

Because I'd say it's whenever the a majority of Bengal fans complain after a victory as loudly as they'd complain after a loss.

[membengal]

Yeah, definitions would be helpful:

For my part, a true dead cat only occurs when they are hopelessly out of the playoff hunt.

That's not the case at this point. Lose to Arizona? Then, yes. Beat them? That cat ain't dead.

[Stripes]

Yeah, definitions would be helpful:

For my part, a true dead cat only occurs when they are hopelessly out of the playoff hunt.

That's not the case at this point. Lose to Arizona? Then, yes. Beat them? That cat ain't dead.

Agreed. Frankly I won't call the cat dead until the Bengals take an 8th loss.

[kenyon1977]

The "Fire Marvin" cheer is really getting boring.

It isn't going to happen, guys - and it shouldn't happen.

Pick something else to complain about like..oh...death and taxes.

and Starbucks, Chuck, 6 day work weeks, and Red Zone ineffectiveness.

[kenyon1977]

For the love of God, people,

Firing ML at this point would be ludicrous!

Ludicrous and probably disasterous as well.

This talk of firing ML is old and it is not going to happen.

Even if MB decided right this very minute that he didn't want ML to be head coach anymore there are a ton of things that need to happen:

1) You need to find someone else that is at least as good as ML - this is something that could be argued on this board for years. In my opinion, ML hasn't done anything which would cause me to completely doubt his potential.

2) You need to find someone that is available now

3) You need to find someone that you can afford

4) You need to find someone that is willing to commit to coming to Cincinnati and coaching - Cincinnati is a small market team and - frankly - MB isn't what you'd call a "top tier" boss/owner.

5) We - as fans - need to be willing to be patient while this new coach ramps up a new team - judging from the comments I typically see on this board expecting that kind of patience is laughable.

LMAO. I didn't know this thread would get this many responses. I too think it would be a disaster to fire ML right now. Who ould they get?

Marty Schottehiemer (like and earlier post). Yeah ok how about Jim Fassel? Or you could give a s**t load of money and try to buy and ineffective Bill Parcels or wait how about Cower?? At least that would sell tickets.

Would be nice to get a new defensive coordinater though. That would be sweet.

[HairOnFire]

Make me the boss and I'd immediately name Paul Daugherty as Bengal GM.

Then I'd hire Chick Ludwig as head coach.

And I'd reach an agreement with the makers of Hefty trash bags to build a practice bubble over a barge floating in the middle of the Ohio river.

Yup, that's what I'd do.