The Cincinnati Bengals, at 5-8, are all but assuredly going to miss the playoffs this season, making for the second straight season they will have had their season end after Week 17. This comes after a run of five consecutive playoff trips, all ending in the first round, and Marvin Lewis has, in total, taken Cincinnati to the postseason seven times in his 15 years as coach.
That’s an impressive feat considering the Bengals hadn’t made the playoffs in the 12 seasons prior to Lewis taking over. His tenure has been one of the most successful in franchise history, but it will be coming to an end after this season.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, when the Bengals’ season ends on New Years’ Eve against the Ravens, so will Lewis’ time as the head coach in Cincinnati as he steps down to pursue other opportunities.
After 15 seasons in Cincinnati, Marvin Lewis is planning to leave the Bengals after this season to pursue opportunities elsewhere, league sources tell ESPN.
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— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) December 17, 2017
Lewis is one of the NFL’s longest tenured head coaches, only Bill Belichick has a longer tenure in the NFL currently, so this is a massive change in Cincinnati, but one that’s probably a couple years overdue. The Bengals reached an impressive (and unprecedented) level of consistency under Lewis, but at the same time had plateaued and appear to be on the decline for this current era. Lewis’ departure could signal an even larger shuffling in Cincinnati to come, both in the coaching staff and on the roster as a new coach may want to shake things up pretty considerably.
According to Schefter, Lewis’ contract as well as most of his assistants come up at the end of this season and the Bengals weren’t planning on extending those assistants. He also hopes he can land one of the soon-to-be opening coaching jobs around the league, or move into a front office position elsewhere.
In any case, while the current feelings towards Lewis probably aren’t all that positive in Cincinnati, it will be important to remember what he took over with the Bengals and what he built there out of seemingly nothing, even if the team never got over the proverbial hump for a deep postseason run.
