The Cincinnati Bengals aren’t in Super Bowl LVI against the Los Angeles Rams without the franchise-altering efforts of Marvin Lewis for more than a decade.
Not that he’d ever admit it.
“I’m not taking credit for that. That’s not my place,” Lewis told Yahoo Sports’ Frank Schwab. “What they did is about them and their hard work.”
For longtime Bengals fans, that’s about the most Marvin Lewis-styled answer that has ever been uttered.
Still, while most will want to bring up Lewis’ 0-7 postseason record with the Bengals (we could write thousands of words on the bad luck involved there, among other things), the work he did to modernize the franchise left it much better off by the time he left.
Lewis’ real thoughts? He’s thrilled for all involved, per Schwab:
“I’m happy for them. When you don’t win all the time, they don’t get to reap the rewards of winning. I saw that [Sunday]. Everyone was smiling. That’s what’s cool. That’s what’s great.”
Bengals fans know they won’t get much more than that from Lewis, but it’s enough.
And as Lewis confirms in the interview, he’d still like a chance at another head-coaching gig in the NFL. Given what he accomplished for the Bengals, it’s a little mind-boggling we haven’t seen his name come up more in coaching searches.
