5 Reasons Bengals should fire Marvin Lewis
By Luke Drage
2. Lack of Success in the Playoffs
Lewis has been in charge of 14 full seasons in Cincinnati. His overall regular season record of 118-105-3 is excellent, especially for a franchise that hadn’t reached the postseason in 12 years before his appointment.
His playoff record, however, is abysmal. 0-7 and only two of those losses by less than ten points doesn’t paint a pretty picture. This included five straight years of first round exits and means the franchise is still waiting for its first postseason win in 27 years.
When you consider the personnel he has had, this is entirely unacceptable. Offensive stars like Carson Palmer, Chad Ochocino and AJ Green have excelled on the field. As well as playmakers on defense such as Geno Atkins, Carlos Dunlap and ‘Pacman’ Jones.
The talent has been there but his teams have lacked the mental edge to show up on the big stage. For five straight years from 2011-15 it was the same old story.
His team looked fantastic in regular season. They were a hard-nosed, dynamic group who consistently won ten games or more and then crumbled at the first sight of postseason play.
Lewis has added stability to a previously chaotic organization and he deserves credit for that. But the complete incompetency in the postseason cannot be ignored any longer.
Few other coaches would be afforded so many failures. For the aim is not to simply reach the postseason, it’s to win a championship. And Lewis has not come mildly close to achieving that.