Marvin Lewis

[HAPPYJAQ]

I know that some will disagree with this, but Marvin needs to be re-signed. I don't think that he is the greatest evaluator of player talent or even talent on his coaching staff (see: Les Frazier), but could you imagine Shula, Coslet or even LeBeau dealing with the Chad, T.J., Chris Henry, Odell situations, Levi trade demands or any of the other off-the-field distractions over the years. This team would be a mad house for malcontents! I can remember years past (remembering the Dillon and Pickens situations, especially...along with Gary Reasons disrepecting the coach during a game) where you knew the next season is set to be a disaster before it even starts! I am still very optimistic about '08 and beyond, even without Chad (and possibly others). Last season was the Bengals first losing season since he's been here, with a injury-plagued team and the Bengals still finished 7-9. The thing that has me most upbeat is that he is being extremely firm with star players this offseason, when many pundits are calling for him to be on the hot-seat this year. In years past, many head coaches around the league would attempt to coddle players in hopes that they produce. Marvin is basically saying "FU, and we'll replace you". Great coach and I hope he is here for a long time.

[BengalChamps]

To say he is better than shula, lebeau, and coslet is not earth shattering. He would still be ranked below PB, Gregg, and Wyche. Not many other coaches left. That puts him in the middle at this point.

[Ickey44]

Well, I'd say he brought a lot of it on himself. With Chad, he let him get away with too much and it eventually got out of hand. He drafted Henry and Odell. He's had a crummy defense since he's been here even with talented players on that side of the ball. He's failed to address certain needs, like the defensive line.

He inherited most of our offensive talent. Chad, TJ, and Rudi were already Bengals when Marvin was hired. He drafted CP. I don't have exact numbers, but I'd estimate that about 60% of his draft picks are no longer with the team.

As much opportunity as he has to improve, I hate to say we should get rid of him because I doubt there's anyone out there who can do any better. He has brought credibility back to this franchise and made them competitive, but that's about it. When he talked about cleaning house this offseason, I was hoping that would include the offensive coordinator. I think it's time for a change there.

However, I am pleased that he seems to have taken a hard stance on the players this year. He doesn't seem to be taking any s**t and it's about time.

All in all, I'd say wait for his contract to be up before you recommit to him.

[BengalPimp]

I for one, have the utmost respect for Marvin Lewis. He is what a Head Coach needs to be.....Firm, Disciplined, and stands his ground.

He WILL NOT let players walk all over him like some past Bengals coaches. Marvin also has a very strong TEAM concept, unfortunately, "star" players (see Chad) sometimes have a hard time buying into to it, but do not fault Marvin for that. The man is also a good talent evaluator, but unfortunatly some of that talent got side-tracked/derailed by injuries/off-filed problems. I dont personally think any of us can really question the talent/potential talent of guys like Pollack,Thurman,Henry, and both Perrys' Tab & Chris.

This ship(the Bengals) hasnt been right for a long time, but if anyone can right this ship, it's Marvin Lewis. He's made big strides in turning this franchise from laughing-stock to playoff contention, and there's no reason to believe that he can't take them to the next level as well. To those who want him out, think about this for 1 second, in 5 seasons, he's had only 1 losing season, and 7-9 is barely a losing season.

Seriously though, how many other coaches do you think would have been able to accomplish waht Marvin has with all of the injuries/suspensions this team has had? With almost any other coach, 8-8 or 7-9 could have VERY easily been 4-12 !!!!!

[gregstephens]

Hey...the man is no Homer Rice.

[HAPPYJAQ]

Well, I'd say he brought a lot of it on himself. With Chad, he let him get away with too much and it eventually got out of hand. He drafted Henry and Odell. He's had a crummy defense since he's been here even with talented players on that side of the ball. He's failed to address certain needs, like the defensive line.

He inherited most of our offensive talent. Chad, TJ, and Rudi were already Bengals when Marvin was hired. He drafted CP. I don't have exact numbers, but I'd estimate that about 60% of his draft picks are no longer with the team.

As much opportunity as he has to improve, I hate to say we should get rid of him because I doubt there's anyone out there who can do any better. He has brought credibility back to this franchise and made them competitive, but that's about it. When he talked about cleaning house this offseason, I was hoping that would include the offensive coordinator. I think it's time for a change there.

However, I am pleased that he seems to have taken a hard stance on the players this year. He doesn't seem to be taking any s**t and it's about time.

All in all, I'd say wait for his contract to be up before you recommit to him.

His defense hasn't been superb, what look at Brain Billick and Tony Dungy, two coaches who won Super Bowls with the strongest parts of their backgrounds being afterthoughts or average at best in Super Bowl-winning years. I don't think that Chad is the same type of distraction as Pickens and Dillon, with Corey eventually thowing his equipment in the stands and stating to the media that he'd rather work at Burger King than playing for the Bengals, with no recourse from the staff at that time. Could you realistically imagine that happening during the Marvin era?? All teams have bad drafting years; Look at the Vikings, with only one player remaining from the '05 draft, with the trade of Erasmus James (1st round pick) to the Redskins for a 7th rounder just today. We currently still have 3 players from that same draft, minus Henry, Thurman and Pollack, who all left this past offseason. Two of those players should see plenty of action in Ghiaciuc and Fanene. For comparison, only Miller and McFadden played significantly for the Steelers, as players drafted in '05. As far as Bratkowski goes, his offense has had a top 10 ranking in each of the past 3 seasons, so I don't believe the problem is there. Minus red zone, without question, the offense has been one of the best in the league (even without a consistent running game last year).

[bengalsfan17]

For the person that put up this post have you watched the bengals games that last two years??.....He is a terrible game coach...consistently bad clock management and consistently terrible to know when to throw the red flag....and you say that marvin doesnt let people walk over him???......what about growing a pair and benching chad when he had the outburst in the locker room....or how bout when he fumbled this year inside the ten yard line and he just sat there pouting while arizona took it the other way???...discipline? thats funny

[Thurmanation]

One of the best? hahaha thats funny. Id put him in the top 10 and thats not saying much for the history of Bengals HC's.

-Terrible off-season activity

-Lack of consistency

-Grows a sack at the completely wrong times

-Took him 5 years to start getting a good staff, and its still far from great

-Not bad but definatly not good drafts, the cons out way the pros.

-Bad in game play calling

-For some reason he is a LB coach for like 25 years and a DC for 5 and our D is still garbage and our LB core is also still very weak.

I could go on but i have to work in 5 hours.

[BengalPimp]

One of the best? hahaha thats funny. Id put him in the top 10 and thats not saying much for the history of Bengals HC's.

-Terrible off-season activity

-Lack of consistency

-Grows a sack at the completely wrong times

-Took him 5 years to start getting a good staff, and its still far from great

-Not bad but definatly not good drafts, the cons out way the pros.

-Bad in game play calling

-For some reason he is a LB coach for like 25 years and a DC for 5 and our D is still garbage and our LB core is also still very weak.

I could go on but i have to work in 5 hours.

C'mon, you dont like Marvin because he cut your boy Odell..........Do us all a favor and leave BengalNation and join ConstructionWorker nation with Odell Thurman.

[Sandwedge]

I'd put ML at the #5 spot....

1) Paul Brown

2) Forest Gregg

3) Sam Wyche

4) Bill (Tiger) Johnson

5) Marvin Lewis

I think Marvin has alot to learn about game management, however I think he'll get better at

and I also think he has this team marching in the right direction now.. He could move up my list to #4 with

a playoff win this year!!

[Sandwedge]

One of the best? hahaha thats funny. Id put him in the top 10 and thats not saying much for the history of Bengals HC's.

-Terrible off-season activity

-Lack of consistency

-Grows a sack at the completely wrong times

-Took him 5 years to start getting a good staff, and its still far from great

-Not bad but definatly not good drafts, the cons out way the pros.

-Bad in game play calling

-For some reason he is a LB coach for like 25 years and a DC for 5 and our D is still garbage and our LB core is also still very weak.

I could go on but i have to work in 5 hours.

C'mon, you dont like Marvin because he cut your boy Odell..........Do us all a favor and leave BengalNation and join ConstructionWorker nation with Odell Thurman.

Or still unemployed nation!!

[walzav29]

I think Marvin is a great coach, just inexperienced. I think he knew how to clean house when he got here and then the team got good. He thought they would be professionals and he wouldn't have to babysit them. He was wrong. Now he has went back to the disciplined route and it will pay off. I have no doubt that they will win the division this year. The team was not mature enough to handle success. As soon as these new receiving core develop Chad will be gone. Think of his 1st season. With Jon Kitna they were 8-8. They will do at least 2 games better than that. 10-6 with this schedule will be great. Browns no secondary and too much exposure + Expectations = flop and the Steelers are drifting away from their OL and DL mentalitity that Cowher lived by and they're turning fancy. Their schedule is insane.

[agreen_112]

I'm a Marvin guy. I think he understands the game and knows what it takes to win... He's not a hardass, I wish he would be. He's not very consistant and I'd like to see him be a little more non-conservative this year.

Is he a great coach? At this point, I would say NO... Bill Cowher is a Great coach.

[Ickey44]

Well, I'd say he brought a lot of it on himself. With Chad, he let him get away with too much and it eventually got out of hand. He drafted Henry and Odell. He's had a crummy defense since he's been here even with talented players on that side of the ball. He's failed to address certain needs, like the defensive line.

He inherited most of our offensive talent. Chad, TJ, and Rudi were already Bengals when Marvin was hired. He drafted CP. I don't have exact numbers, but I'd estimate that about 60% of his draft picks are no longer with the team.

As much opportunity as he has to improve, I hate to say we should get rid of him because I doubt there's anyone out there who can do any better. He has brought credibility back to this franchise and made them competitive, but that's about it. When he talked about cleaning house this offseason, I was hoping that would include the offensive coordinator. I think it's time for a change there.

However, I am pleased that he seems to have taken a hard stance on the players this year. He doesn't seem to be taking any s**t and it's about time.

All in all, I'd say wait for his contract to be up before you recommit to him.

His defense hasn't been superb, what look at Brain Billick and Tony Dungy, two coaches who won Super Bowls with the strongest parts of their backgrounds being afterthoughts or average at best in Super Bowl-winning years. I don't think that Chad is the same type of distraction as Pickens and Dillon, with Corey eventually thowing his equipment in the stands and stating to the media that he'd rather work at Burger King than playing for the Bengals, with no recourse from the staff at that time. Could you realistically imagine that happening during the Marvin era?? All teams have bad drafting years; Look at the Vikings, with only one player remaining from the '05 draft, with the trade of Erasmus James (1st round pick) to the Redskins for a 7th rounder just today. We currently still have 3 players from that same draft, minus Henry, Thurman and Pollack, who all left this past offseason. Two of those players should see plenty of action in Ghiaciuc and Fanene. For comparison, only Miller and McFadden played significantly for the Steelers, as players drafted in '05. As far as Bratkowski goes, his offense has had a top 10 ranking in each of the past 3 seasons, so I don't believe the problem is there. Minus red zone, without question, the offense has been one of the best in the league (even without a consistent running game last year).

Brian Billick won the SB with the best defense in NFL history. Tony Dungy won it with a top 5 offense and a defense that stepped up in the post-season.

It may not be Marvin's fault entirely for our poor drafting. Everyone knows our scouting dept has like two people working in it. But at some point, if you want to win, you have to step up to Mikey and tell him that if he wants a successful football team then he's gonna hafta start doing things differently. To my knowledge, he hasn't done that. So from there I assume that he's ok with the way the franchise is being run, thus putting the responsibility on him.

Yes, all teams have bad drafting years, but we've had one every year he's been here. Carson Palmer and Eric Steinbach are the only picks quality picks he's made during his tenure. There have been some other decent ones (Ghuicic, Whitworth, Ndukwe, White, Hall, Joseph) but only Palmer and Steinbach made in impact. The jury's still out on some of them, but most ended up being worthless. Not to mention that we're still drafting players with questionable character....

I'm hoping this year is the turning point for him. I think Chad's finally pushed him over the edge and he's going to coach hard-nosed now. That's one thing I think he would've picked up under Cowher.

[Thurmanation]

One of the best? hahaha thats funny. Id put him in the top 10 and thats not saying much for the history of Bengals HC's.

-Terrible off-season activity

-Lack of consistency

-Grows a sack at the completely wrong times

-Took him 5 years to start getting a good staff, and its still far from great

-Not bad but definatly not good drafts, the cons out way the pros.

-Bad in game play calling

-For some reason he is a LB coach for like 25 years and a DC for 5 and our D is still garbage and our LB core is also still very weak.

I could go on but i have to work in 5 hours.

C'mon, you dont like Marvin because he cut your boy Odell..........Do us all a favor and leave BengalNation and join ConstructionWorker nation with Odell Thurman.

Or still unemployed nation!!

You both make jokes but can't defend what i say, I'm still a Bengals fan girls, just a disgruntled one.

[icehole3]

I'd put ML at the #5 spot....

1) Paul Brown

2) Forest Gregg

3) Sam Wyche

4) Bill (Tiger) Johnson

5) Marvin Lewis

I think Marvin has alot to learn about game management, however I think he'll get better at

and I also think he has this team marching in the right direction now.. He could move up my list to #4 with

a playoff win this year!!

I'd put Marvin ahead of Tiger, who inherited a good Paul Brown playoff team that was loaded and within 2 years have them regress to 4-12.

[gregstephens]

I'd put ML at the #5 spot....

1) Paul Brown

2) Forest Gregg

3) Sam Wyche

4) Bill (Tiger) Johnson

5) Marvin Lewis

I think Marvin has alot to learn about game management, however I think he'll get better at

and I also think he has this team marching in the right direction now.. He could move up my list to #4 with

a playoff win this year!!

I'd put Marvin ahead of Tiger, who inherited a good Paul Brown playoff team that was loaded and within 2 years have them regress to 4-12.

I'd agree. Johnson was no Rice, LeBeau, etc., but he's not above Marvin. Marvin did a lot with the legacy of LeBeau and, past two years aside, should get his credit for 2005.

[Ickey44]

I'll agree with that, but you also have to keep in mind that while we had a good 2005 team, we also had a very weak schedule. As I recall, the Steelers were the only above .500 team we beat that year.

[gregstephens]

I'll agree with that, but you also have to keep in mind that while we had a good 2005 team, we also had a very weak schedule. As I recall, the Steelers were the only above .500 team we beat that year.

Valid point, but the reason our schedule was easier that season was because of how bad our team was in prior years. Plus, we played some teams in 2005 that had good 2004s that slipped.

[HAPPYJAQ]

For the person that put up this post have you watched the bengals games that last two years??.....He is a terrible game coach...consistently bad clock management and consistently terrible to know when to throw the red flag....and you say that marvin doesnt let people walk over him???......what about growing a pair and benching chad when he had the outburst in the locker room....or how bout when he fumbled this year inside the ten yard line and he just sat there pouting while arizona took it the other way???...discipline? thats funny

I've watched Bengals football (and been a die-hard fan) since '88. Marvin does not call the plays on offense or take snaps from Center. He allows for his coaches to coach. Offensively, the Bengals have been one of the top teams in the NFL over his time here. In regards to Chad's outburst, I can assure you that it happens every week in the NFL. NFL football players are probably the most emotional and expressive professional athletes in all of sports, mainly as a by-product of what their jobs entail. Have you ever played football at any level? If you have, you've probably seen emotional outbursts by players. The difference between the Chad situation and the dozens of other that happen any given Sunday is that the media happened to catch wind of it; That's why many coaches don't allow press in the locker rooms during halftime or before certain points after the game. I am not saying that Coach Lewis is the next Lombardi or Shula, I am only saying that he is one of the better coaches we've had here, especially in the last 20 years.

[Ickey44]

I am only saying that he is one of the better coaches we've had here, especially in the last 20 years.

I agree with that, but I still think he has lots of room to improve.

[damiancasey]

A couple of days ago espn played a show I hadn't seen before - The 10 Worst Teams in NFL History. There was obviously nothing scientific about it and the rankings were very subjective but three things struck me as I was watching:

1) We have improved BIG TIME from the 90's

2) Coach Shula was totally inept and I felt myself tensing up and getting pissed off every time they showed him in highlights from the 90's.

3) There were other teams that went from abysmal to great - 1989 Cowboys, 1990 Patriots, 1981 Colts but no team looked as consistently bad as the Bengals of the 90's. 11 losing seasons - holy crap.