There’s plenty of blame to go around after the Cincinnati Bengals’ heartbreaking playoff defeat to the Pittsburgh Steelers, but the buck stops with one man. Head coach Marvin Lewis, who is statistically the worst postseason coach in NFL history, should have just coached his last game with the Bengals.
Unlike past playoff failures, the Bengals didn’t lose this game because of a crippling injury. Even though Andy Dalton was out, Cincinnati was good enough to win with A.J. McCarron under center.
They also didn’t lose because their opponent was vastly superior or even dominated with a star like Andrew Luck or J.J. Watt. While Antonio Brown caught seven passes for 119 yards, he wasn’t the difference-maker, though he was involved in the game’s most important play.
Nope, Cincinnati lost because it self destructed, plain and simple.
No players cost the Bengals more than Vontaze Burfict and Adam Jones. Burfict clearly went after Brown’s head with just 22 seconds left on the clock, drawing the first 15-yard flag (watch here), while Jones lost his head in a scuffle with Pittsburgh coach Joey Porter. While Porter should have been flagged, Jones earned his penalty.
On one incomplete pass, the Steelers went from out of field goal range, to a 50-yarder in bad weather, to a 35-yard chip shot for Chris Boswell. Ouch. That’s certainly a painful loss.
But as painful as it was, the Bengals losing because of stupid plays by those two players was even more predictable, especially if your name is Bucky Brooks.
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Those penalties were not surprising. It also isn’t even remotely surprising that Jones posted posted an incredibly NSFW video after the game and took no responsibility for his actions.
While those two certainly deserve plenty of blame for their own actions, Lewis was responsible for having them on the field. He’s long been praised for giving guys with questionable character second (and in many cases, third) chances.
The game was incredibly chippy all throughout. Lewis and the Bengals coaches were seen trying to calm Burfict down on the sidelines and obviously, it did not work. It was apparent to anyone watching the game that Burfict was on edge and when a player like is on edge, he needs to be on the bench, especially in a close game.
Still, in a series where the only things that could really the Bengals were long plays and big penalties, Lewis allowed Burfict to stay in the game.
At its worst, that’s egregious coaching on the part of Lewis. At its best, that’s a tremendous gamble that didn’t pay off. Even if we’re willing to give Lewis that benefit of the doubt, people who take heavy risks need to be held accountable when those risks don’t pay off.
Having Burfict on the field during that drive was a risk. Allowing Jones to be near the Steelers tending to Brown was another one.
Lewis took those risks and they backfired on a big way. At the conclusion of the game, Lewis said: “We destructed on ourselves. Both offense and defense together…”
He’s right, but coaching has to be included in that. The Cincinnati Bengals dropped the ball, and Lewis didn’t do enough to keep it from happening.
The Bengals have been one of the best teams in the league for five seasons but have yet to win one playoff game under Lewis. In this one, his coaching was a big reason why.
But this isn’t new. Lewis has continuously dropped the ball when the games matter most. His team continuously shows up to playoff games unprepared and overmatched, whether you’re talking about the players or coaches involved.
Because of all of that, Cincinnati should be looking for a new coach in 2016. It’s time for Mike Brown to finally throw in the towel and give someone else a chance to run his organization.