Just moments after Adam Gase was let go, another more surprising move was made. Marvin Lewis has been fired by the Bengals, according to Tom Pelissero of NFL Network (Twitter link).
While Lewis came very close to losing his job last year, he ultimately ended up signing a two year extension with the Bengals and had been expected to be allowed back in 2019 if he wanted to continue. It’s the end of one of the longest coaching stints in recent NFL history, as Lewis coached the team for 16 years. Although he inherited one of the worst teams in the league that was a complete mess and turned them into a winner, the Bengals went 0-7 in the playoffs during his tenure.
That being said, Lewis completely changed the culture of a team that was a laughingstock and hadn’t had a winning season in 13 years when he was hired, so it’s understandable why owner Mike Brown had stayed so loyal to him over the years.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Network noted in a follow up tweet to “keep an eye on Vance Joseph” in Cincinnati. Joseph, who was fired by the Broncos earlier today, was an assistant on Lewis’ staff for a couple of seasons before taking the defensive coordinator job in Miami. The Bengals like to hire and promote from within, so Joseph getting consideration isn’t a surprise.
Mike Garafolo wrote in a tweet of his own that Lewis has told people that he wants to continue coaching, so this isn’t a retirement. It’ll be very interesting to see if another team gives him a shot as a head coach. All told throughout 16 seasons, Lewis went 131-122-3, and won the AFC North four times.
Subsequently hire Hue Jackson as HC
Don’t put that evil on me Ricky Bobby
Fire Lewis and Hire Hue Jackson? Why hire a coach like Jackson that has a worse record as a head coach than Lewis?
For fun
Clearly you haven’t seen Mike Brown operate.
Not too surprising to me. This is long over due! This guys done a terrible job and somehow kept his job until now.
If you call making the playoffs 7x a terrible job, then you obviously don’t know what terrible is
He’s not terrible but making the playoffs 7 times and not winning a single game kind of warrants a coaching change.
Ask Cleveland, Buffalo, Jacksonville, Miami would they trade the last 16yrs with Cincy. Having a CHANCE matters. Never said he was great, but he wasn’t terrible.
Finally T Solid .. something we agree on
Cleveland Buffalo Jacksonville and Miami were terrible as well. I do not see how that changes anything for me though.
Cincy was better than those teams. You are right about that.
7 times in 16 years is pretty meh, especially when coupled with an 0-7 record in the playoffs. His firing is waaaay overdue.
He won ZERO playoff games in 16 years = terrible!!!
You should take a look at their records before he showed up. He was a fantastic coach with the Bengals just got too stale.
Well 16 years is a very long run for a coach
Cincinnati fans needs to realize this mess was created by Lewis! It’s our cheap owner MIKE BROWN, he will not sign no veteran free agents and there draft has been horrible! If they give the coaching job to HUE JACKSON, this team must go!! Jackson was horrified in Cleveland and see wa
what their assistant coach did to them after Jackson left should be a wake up call to the Bengals fans and owner!
(Spoken in a West Side Accent) Playyyse? Playyyse? I didn’t hear yahs, I was on my way to KrogerS after eating my Cheese Coneys.
If they hire Hue Jackson “this team must go” where?
London!
There’s loads of cities that would take a NFL team, give them one
he turned the bungles into a winner? when?
The Bengals were TERRIBLE in the mid to late 90’s. No free agents would even consider coming to Cincinnati. Marvin changed the culture of ownership to invest in things like training facilities.
7 playoffs in 16 yrs.
0 playoff wins
Bingo! Zero wins does not equate to a “winner”. He improved them though.
Hue Jackson is the next HC because he will be best option to keep the Bengals streak of not winning a playoff game alive
This should have been Zimmer or Grudens job 4 years ago
You can have Gruden
They can have both of them.
Somewhere said he could be a browns candidate but I think the reason Mayfield and Williams work so well is because they are both outspoken and loud. I don’t think McCarthy or Lewis makes sense in Cleveland. If Tomlin gets cut he would be great in Cleveland. I don’t think the NFL wants to see Williams be a permanent head coach.
As a longtime Bengal fan, this was long overdue. Marvin is still best coach in our crummy history and should have been made GM a few years back. Hopefully Brown doesn’t hire from within and actually looks for best candidates. No Hue, no Vance Joseph. Zimmer is only former Bengal I’d be ok with.
Rex Ryan next coach
Meanwhile Raven and Steeler fans groan. No more Bungles? We could always count on the Bungles to choke.
When do the Steelers play this next weekend?
Ugh, another coach fired because he didn’t have a real qb. The GM/owner hands him a bunch of thugs and a very average qb and expects them to win championships. Lewis was a pretty crappy game manager but he had the respect of his team and he got what he could out of a roster with a bunch of hot messes. How about the bengals fire the gm/owner? What’s next? Hue Jackson as head coach? Do you really think this is a job that real candidates will be fighting over?
Yeah real shame they kept him on such a short leash and dump him so soon into his Cincy tenure…SMH
This is the biggest shock in the history of professional sports. Marvin led the Bengals to a dynasty and was considered the best coach the team ever had. I am flabbergasted, heartbroken and exacerbated
Hue Jackson could temporarily fill in
Well now that he’s finally been fired, curious to see the photos he must have had of the owner in a sketchy situation that enabled him to keep his job this long.
Finally the Cincinnati Browns fired the warden of the thugs.
Lol it only took them getting beat by the Browns twice badly to do it finally. The Hue Jackson signing as “special assistant” seem like more now than just “teach us how to beat the Browns.”
Hue only knew how to beat the Browns when he coached them.