The Cincinnati Bengals lost in the Wild Card round to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Saturday, 18-16. Cincinnati was down 15-0 entering the fourth quarter and went on to outscore the Steelers 16-3. The Bengals self-destructed in the final 22 seconds. Vontaze Burfict and Adam Jones each had a personal foul penalty setting up Pittsburgh in field goal range. Chris Boswell kicked a 35 yard field goal with 14 seconds to end the Bengals season. The Bengals still haven’t won a playoff game since 1990.
After the game media members wondered if this would be the end of Head Coach Marvin Lewis in Cincinnati. According to ESPN, the Bengals are not planning to make any coaching changes but should they? Marvin Lewis has been the Bengals’ Head Coach since 2003. His career record is 112-94-2. They won the AFC North Division four times and made the playoffs in seven seasons. They have yet to win a playoff game under Lewis.
The problem with firing Lewis is he is a coach who would be high on everybody’s list. His record in the regular season speaks for itself. Lewis is a winner in the regular season and would take any team into the playoffs. The Bengals need to keep him so he can keep building this team to a point where they can win in the playoffs. Before Marvin Lewis came to town, the Bengals went through four head coaches and only one playoff appearance. That was in 1990. The downside with keeping Lewis is his playoff record. He is now 0-7.
Sure they have had results in the playoffs, but Lewis still got them there. Plenty of coaches would like to be in his shoes because of his ability to make the playoffs. The Bengals should keep him. If they were to let him go, who knows where the team would be and if they would make the playoffs again. It’s difficult to make the playoffs in the NFL. The Bengals at least right now are making the right decision to retain Marvin Lewis.
What do you think of Marvin Lewis remaining with the Cincinnati Bengals?
Good coach. His own players or player hurt him this time around. Never played the sport so I don’t —- deep down —know why what’s his name hit the receiver with an apparently dirty, illegal hit —- especially with so much on the line!! Boys will be boys and some boys think they should get away with as much as they can. This time he got caught; maybe he didn’t want to go further in the play-offs. Just stupid and selfish. Think he had time to deflect and miss the receiver. It was so late!