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Cincinnati
Bengals...
Marvin Lewis
Extension Proves Bengals’ Desire for Change Doesn’t Extend to Coach
CINCINNATI- Not long ago, it seemed as though the Cincinnati Bengals
may have been ready to move on from head coach Marvin Lewis at the end
of the 2012 season. Neither the front office nor Lewis himself had much
to say about potentially getting an extension, and all signs pointed to
him at least heading into a lame-duck year.
Apparently, though, the two sides came to an agreement, and the club
announced on Tuesday that Lewis would be with the Bengals at least
through the 2014 season. This comes on the heels of a similar deal
worked out with defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer, which was announced
last week.
Lewis now enters his 10th season with the Bengals as the coach of one
of the youngest overall rosters in the league. Though under his tenure
the Bengals have gone 69-77-1 (including the playoffs), he helped that
young team to a 9-7 2011 season, complete with a playoff appearance,
and now he’s at the helm of one of the most promising teams in the
league.
In the past two years alone, the Bengals have committed themselves to
nearly wholesale change. From moving on (or being forced to move on)
from quarterback Carson Palmer to an entire rebuild of its receiving
corps, from toughening its defense to reworking its run-game
philosophy, Cincinnati hasn’t shied away from making bold moves in the
hopes that they’ll pay off in the win column.
But through it all, Lewis has been in (relative) control of the team.
Sure, he has to deal with more ownership headaches than most coaches,
thanks to the penny-pinching and often counterproductive practices of
owner Mike Brown. But clearly, Lewis has ways to effectively work
around Brown’s issues without offending him—a feat that would test many
head coaches (and their job security) in the NFL.
For a team so young and that has undergone so many changes in a short
period of time, it is necessary that the Bengals at least have
year-to-year consistency in some area. Coaching makes the most sense.
Lewis proved last year that starting a rookie quarterback-receiver
tandem wasn’t a foolish risk to take, but now the onus is on him to
continue that momentum. In a lame-duck year, those young players
wouldn’t have the sense of stability necessary to feel confident that
what they’ve so tentatively built wouldn’t be knocked down at the end
of the year.
At the very least, the Bengals can add as many new faces as they want
on the roster, but the men calling the plays stay the same.
Lewis’ extension does raise some eyebrows, considering his win-loss
record, but him getting a contract extension even when times are rough
isn’t unprecedented. The Bengals could have renewed his contract after
the 2009 season, when the team was the AFC North champion; instead,
they waited, and they went 4-12 the following year. However, Lewis
still got a two-year contract.
Read this and other articles at The Bleacher Report
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