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What to do with
Marvin?
By Mike Stegall
On January 9th, 2016 at 8:15 p.m. , the Cincinnati Bengals may have
played their last playoff game for a while. The NFL is an ever
changing landscape with the draft, free agency, retirements, injuries,
franchise moves, coaches leaving, and TV contracts. Every
team is affected every year; the Bengals are no exception. They Have 16
free agents this year, including Leon Hall, Andre Smith, Reggie Nelson,
Vince Rey, Adam Jones, Marvin Jones, and other starters. They
can’t keep them all, unless they want salary cap issues in the future,
and Katy Blackburn is very good with the salary cap, she knows what
they can do. With that in mind, this year may be a watershed moment for
the team, as more change than normal may take place.
After the debilitating loss last Saturday night, one would think that
this organization would sit and take stock of itself and see what
changes are coming that are out of their control, and those that are
under their control. Those out of their control are the injuries
to players that may not be available for the start of the season, those
players who will retire, rules changes, and staff who take other head
coaching jobs. Those in their control include players to keep, coaches
to keep, drafting and free agency. Running a successful NFL
franchise is not an easy job. Not only do you have to make major
choices in personnel to be successful, including coaches and G.M.’s,
you have to consider your fan base. As tickets, parking and
concessions become more expensive, your base will inevitably grow
smaller as fewer and fewer of the fans can afford to go to a
game. T. V money helps offset some of this, but having an empty
stadium is never a good look on the national stage. You must keep
the stands full, and that means winning. The biggest move for me
is what to do with Marvin Lewis, the coach. He is the Face of the
franchise, and I think the face seriously needs looked
at. I thought I would throw my 2 cents in on
what the Bengals should do with him. You can judge if I would be
a lousy G.M. or not!
In my opinion, he should have been gone 8 years ago. Most coaches
ask for a 5 year contract to run a team as they see fit, most are gone
after 3 years. Marvin is a nice man, players like him, and the
Bengals owner Mike Brown is loyal to a fault. However, no other
team would stick with a coach who in his first 5 years won
at a .525 pace, and in the next 5 years got worse, winning at a .466
pace. Why do they keep Marvin? Marvin is not expensive, he makes
$4.5 million a year, ranking just below the league average for coaches
(19th). That would be great if he would get you to the promised
land, but he has failed miserably in doing that. He is the ONLY
coach in NFL history to lose his first 7 playoff appearances. His
winning percentage in 13 years is just .543, hardly glamorous.
Compare that to the other coaches who have been with one team for 5
years or longer: John Harbaugh, Ravens- .602 win
percentage; Mike McCarthy, Packers- .653 win percentage; Bill
Belichick, Patriots- .730 win percentage; Sean Peyton, Saints- .604 win
percentage; and Mike Tomlin, Steelers- .639 win percentage.
Makes Marvin’s record look pretty bad, doesn’t it. After 13
years, and 7 playoff failures, why is he still here? Hard to
explain, especially if you are an owner who swears he wants to win, as
Mike Brown does. Maybe Mike Brown likes just winning a little,
not a lot. As long as fans keep spending, maybe he is happy
enough with just getting by. I knew Mike when his dad was
coaching the Bengals and had their summer camp in Wilmington. I
worked at a radio station there and had 2 exclusive interviews a day
with Paul Brown. Paul was a winner, he had that fire. Mike
was a lawyer, he was handed the assistant G.M. job. Mike Browns
winning percentage is a little over.400. Mike is not his
father. His father never kept a losing coach for 13 years,
EVER, and no coach more than 5. He fired Bill “Tiger”
Johnson after 2 years, and his winning percentage was .545, almost the
same as Marvin Lewis’s, and Homer Rice after 1 year( .296 win
percentage! ) Paul died in August of 1991, Mike has been in charge ever
since. Mike’s coaches and their winning percentages have been;
Dave Shula- 5 years-.268; Bruce Coslet-5 years- .350; Dick LeBeau- 2
years- .267 and now Marvin Lewis. After the debacle that
was Saturday night, and the complete lack of control displayed by the
team, that along with Marivin’s record should have got him fired on
Sunday Morning. Player control is a coach’s job, something else
he failed at. Bengal players were speaking Sunday morning to FOX
SPORTS personnel, with the promise of confidentiality, about how there
is no discipline or accountability on the team. Who is
responsible for that? Mike has gone 25 years without a playoff
victory, Marvin is 0-7. The players see no accountability for their
actions, and Mike has already said Marvin’s job is not in
jeopardy. Does that sound like a G.M. who wants to
win? Do not misunderstand me, Marvin Lewis is a good man. His
charity work and his class, are undisputed. It’s his Head
coaching ability I question, and anybody with a bit of common sense
would look at the statistics, and his accountability and
come to no other conclusion but this; IT IS LONG OVER DUE FOR A CHANGE!
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