Should Marvin Lewis be fired for 5th consecutive playoff loss?

[CGI_Ram]

http://www.wcpo.com/sports/football...yoff-meltdown-boomer-esiason-seemed-to-say-so

CINCINNATI – Bengals great Boomer Esiason thinks Marvin Lewis should lose his job, and Esiason wasn't the only NFL icon to say so after the Bengals' meltdown Saturday night.

An angry Esiason could hardly control himself on the set during the CBS post-game show.

"I'm a former Bengal. I'm embarrassed by the way that this game ended and by the way these guys carried themselves on the football field today," the former NFL MVP and Super Bowl quarterback said, his voice cracking with emotion. "I feel bad for Marvin Lewis. I'll tell you one thing, if Lewis can't control his players, then maybe Marvin Lewis shouldn't be on the sideline coaching that team."

The biggest question following the Bengals' 18-16 loss to the Steelers has to be: Will Lewis, linebacker Vontaze Burfict and cornerback-return man Adam Jones be back next season, or has Mike Brown seen enough after the franchise's fifth-straight one-and-done in the playoffs?

Lewis has one more year on his deal, but he will come under intense scrutiny after his team self-destructed. Defensive end Carlos Dunlap tweeted: "Bengals beat Bengals ... No 1 to blame but ourselves."

Two other CBS analysts, former Steelers coach Bill Cowher and future Hall of Famer Tony Gonzalez, said the two personal fouls by Burfict and Jones that doomed the Bengals at the end were "on" Lewis. The three CBS analysts put the blame squarely on the Bengals coach for not being able to keep his players under control.

After Esiason spoke, Cowher agreed, saying "Vontaze Burfict ... He lost it during the game. That's on the head coach."

Gonzalez said he was "embarrassed for the NFL" and singled out Lewis. The 30 yards of penalties set up Chris Boswell's 35-yard game-winning field goal with 14 seconds left.

Afterward, Lewis didn't even call out Burfict and Jones for their stupid penalties, which only raised more doubt about his handle on the locker room. It's one thing to defend your players when their actions are defensible and quite another thing to act like they didn't do anything wrong when everybody saw what they did.

Instead, team captains Andy Dalton and Andrew Whitworth stepped up and answered the hard questions for Lewis.

"You can't have stupid penalties at times like that," Dalton said about Burfict. "Vontaze is obviously a great player for us and he's done a lot of great things, so I'm not saying he's hurting this team, but the penalties are."

"We have to be smart in situations all throughout the game and make the best decisions to win," Whitworth said.

Burfict and Jones are two of the Bengals' best players, and they showed it Saturday night. Jones' 24-yard punt return gave the Bengals a short field for the go-ahead touchdown with 1:50 to go, and Burfict's interception with 1:36 left seemed to seal the victory. But their stupid penalties and childish post-game behavior had to remind fans of Chad Johnson (Ochocinco), Terrell Owens and all the other bad actors and criminals that filled the Bengals locker room during The Lost Decade.

Jones posted a profanity-filled rant against the referees, and Burfict answered reporters' questions in the locker room with one "I don't know" after another until he walked off.

Neither Burfict nor Jones has been a model citizen, though Burfict's crimes have happened on the field. He took so many personal foul penalties in college that no team drafted him. But Lewis wanted him, believing he could rehabilitate him, so the Bengals gave him a chance.

Burfict rewarded Lewis by leading the team in tackles his first two years and leading the league in his second season (2013) and making the Pro Bowl. He didn't stop making stupid penalties, but they weren't so egregious.

After a 2014 season mostly lost to injuries, Burfict came back this year with fire and more penalties. After the last Bengals-Steelers game in December, the NFL fined Burfict $69,454 for three separate infractions - roughing the passer, a facemask and unnecessary roughness..

Burfict even got into it at midfield before the game when he butted helmets with Pittsburgh linebacker Vince Williams. He didn't get fined for that.

FLYING PIGSKIN: Burfict needs to 'check himself'

Jones' many problems with the law and the NFL (he was suspended for the 2007 season) have been well documented, but except for ripping off Amari Cooper's helmet in September, he has kept fairly clean in the last year or two.

Jones, 32, is an unlimited free agent. Burfict, 25, is signed through 2018.

Once the pain of Saturday's loss wears off, maybe no one will hold any grudges and Lewis, Jones and Burfict will be back to try to make a playoff run next season. For now, though, the Bengals are the only team in NFL history to go one-and-out in the playoffs five straight years. And they are 0-7 under Lewis. The Bengals haven't won in the playoffs since Jan 6, 1991.

Otherwise, offensive coordinator Hue Jackson will probably get a head coaching job, but he'll leave a legacy of questionable play calls anyway (Why not take a knee so Jeremy Hill doesn't fumble? What about that 2-point conversion try?)

AJ McCarron's emergence as a starter could raise a QB controversy here in the offseason. McCarron was unable to put any points on the scoreboard until the fourth quarter, but he made amends by leading three scoring drives and throwing a 25-yard TD pass to A.J. Green with 1:38 to go that put the Bengals ahead 16-15.

It's hard to see McCarron unseating Dalton after Dalton had the best year of his career. But stranger things have happened, as we saw Saturday night.

RELATED: Game stats and video

 

[CGI_Ram]

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/writer...ght-out-of-the-handbook-on-football-stupidity

CINCINNATI -- A.J. Green sat in his locker in full uniform, the shock of what he had just witnessed still on his face, the hurt as evident as the orange on his pants.

The Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver had just watched his team implode in one of the classic big-game meltdowns of all-time, straight out of the handbook on football stupidity.

The Bengals lost an AFC wild-card game to the Steelers 18-16 on Saturday night on a 35-yard field goal by Pittsburgh's Chris Boswell with 14 seconds left, ending their season, sending the Steelers to the divisional round and opening up the Bengals to a lot of questioning.

“You put in all this work for six months, and now it's over,” Green said. “It's tough. I've got no words.”

Losing is one thing. Losing the way they did is another, which made it even tougher to digest than a bowl of Cincinnati chili with onions and cheese on top. The Bengals rallied in the fourth quarter with backup quarterback AJ McCarron when he hit Green with a 25-yard pass with 1:50 left in the game.

Then it appeared to be over when Vontaze Burfict picked off Steelers backup QB Landry Jones. But Jeremy Hill fumbled at the Pittsburgh 20 with 1:36 left. They then had two personal fouls set the Steelers up for Boswell's point-blank kick.

Oh, one more thing: Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was leading that drive after leaving the game with a bum shoulder. He couldn't throw it 20 yards with any velocity, yet found a way to complete short passes before the Bengals' gift personal fouls gave them the shot at the winner

Thanks to the Bengals' advanced lesson on knuckle-head-enomics, the Steelers were able to advance.

You hear coaches say it all the time: We can't beat ourselves.

The Bengals missed that seminar.

This was a team that lost control, let the game get away, and looked in full meltdown mode when it ended. As the Steelers danced off the field, the Bengals were left to wonder how it all happened.

And now the real question comes into play: Who was responsible for this mess? There will be calls for coach Marvin Lewis' head, and this is ultimately his mess. As the coach, he has to control his players.

Yes, there are veterans who lead too. But when players like Vontaze Burfict and Adam Jones, the guilty parties on the two late personal fouls that put the ball into field-goal range, aren't reigned in, there are issues. Burfict got his penalty for a head hit to Antonio Brown, then Jones got one for pushing Steelers coach Joey Porter during the delay in play to get Brown off the field.

Both players have had their fair share of troubles in their career, both are considered hotheads of sorts, and both sometimes let their emotions get the best of them on the field.

That's on Lewis now. They are his guys. He was short with his answers at the podium after the game, and when asked about the Burfict hit he said, “It was a penalty because they threw the flag.”

Even when Burfict's late interception seemed to seal it, he ran off the field and into the tunnel with a handful of teammates following him. That could have been a penalty, and should have been.

Discipline fail.

At the same time, running back Jeremy Hill was doing a dance up and down the sidelines that could have been a penalty. Moments later, he fumbled to give the Steelers a chance.

Discipline fail.

Both teams were warned before the game that it would be called close, that extra stuff wouldn't be tolerated. That's because there was a bunch of incidents from the first two games this season that went past the limits of the game.

Yet here they both were with constant pushing and shoving, personal fouls on coaches (Steelers line coach Mike Munchak) for pushing players, a player coming off the sideline pushing another player to get one and plenty of big hits, extracurricular activity and the dumbest two penalties of all by the Bengals at the end.

“We have to have better control than that,” veteran Bengals tackle Andrew Whitworth said. “We have to be smart and make the best decisions to win. It's unfortunate. It's not about one guy's mistake. Our team has to understand the discipline of winning a football game always has to be No. 1. When you get your priorities out of control, that's what happens.”

So who is responsible? Individual players? Coaches?

“It's falls on all of us,” Whitworth said. “It's not a one-moment thing. It's an every-day thing.”

Burfict briefly answered questions, but was curt and didn't offer much of an explanation for what went wrong. Jones bolted through the locker room and howled loudly as he did with no accountability.

Thus lies the problem.

Players like Burfict and Jones aren't held accountable the way they should be. Yes, they are valuable players, but they need discipline. That's because a lack of it shows up at key moments like it did Saturday night.

When it does, it can haunt a franchise.

This is the one franchise we expect to lose games the way it did this one.

And you couldn't blame this on Andy Dalton.

This one goes to a playoff meltdown that we won't soon forget

 

[CGI_Ram]

Even when Burfict's late interception seemed to seal it, he ran off the field and into the tunnel with a handful of teammates following him. That could have been a penalty, and should have been.

I thought this at the time too. We've seen our Rams get undisciplined at times, but nothing like what we witnessed last night.

I can't imagine being a Bengals fan right now. What a total fail.

 

[den-the-coach]

Rams fired Chuck Knox after the 1977 season and that was for not advancing to the Super Bowl. Lewis would be hired in a nanosecond, however, the Bengals really like their defensive coordinator in Paul Guenther and the Eagles are interviewing him so the Bengals just might make a change firing Lewis and promoting Guenther, however, Lewis would be hired immediately and IMO it would be in Philadelphia.

 

[Selassie I]

Lewis failed the team and the Cincinnati fans. This loss is on him not being in control of his players. He let that idiot Burfict destroy everything they worked for... they had the game.

The refs in that game should also be sent packing for the rest of the playoffs... they also allowed too much from Burfict. He should have been thrown out of the game after the head-hunting hit. His hit on Ben should have been a penalty too if you're asking me.

A Total Embarrassment all the way around. Unbelievable really.

 

[dieterbrock]

They'd be wise to turn the job over to Hue Jackson before he bolts
Lewis is a good coach but just cant lose that game, and cant lose his players.

 

[den-the-coach]

They'd be wise to turn the job over to Hue Jackson before he bolts
Lewis is a good coach but just cant lose that game, and cant lose his players.

Good point, but I think they go with Paul Guenther over Jackson not that I agree with that decision, but Guenther is really liked by Mike Brown and company.

 

[blue4]

I think yes. Five straight one and done. They've a decent group there, but he's too much a player's coach to ever get them anywhere. I think you could kill a guy in that locker room as long as you're fast and can play.

 

[blue4]

I'm surprised they haven't found a way to blame Greg Williams for this yet.

 

[Moostache]

Jeff Fisher is Marvin Lewis....without the winning in the regular season and division titles...I would much rather have had Lewis the last 5 years.

 

[Hey Man]

I'm surprised they haven't found a way to blame Greg Williams for this yet.

That was freakin funny, quote of the day:rolllaugh:

 

[Hey Man]

Jeff Fisher is Marvin Lewis....without the winning in the regular season and division titles...I would much rather have had Lewis the last 5 years.

I wouldn't go quite that far, Fisher has players that got out of hand during games, but it was in defense of one or 2 of our players getting dirty hits on them or getting pushed around. Fisher has more control over " troubled players" than most coaches, as far as I know.

 

[blue4]

That was freakin funny, quote of the day:rolllaugh:

That was what true dirty play looks like. The NFL lately has confused knocking the snot out of someone with being dirty.

 

[Rams43]

Burfict and Jones...

You can't fix stupid.

 

[fearsomefour]

Not even for the playoff loss....a backup QB playing.
But, for the total breakdown by the team....Lewis would have been fired before he left the locker room if I owned that team.
It was a perfect display of nearly everything that is wrong with the NFL.
I would be absolutely crazy pissed if owned, worked or played for that team. If I were a FA, zero chance I am going back to that team if Lewis/Jones stay.
The "me first" attitude of the players was just nauseating. Constantly talking, taking cheap shots....just foolish little tards doing what dumb guys do....messing things up.
I guarantee you Jones will find a way to try and blame someone else. It is always someone else fault in the mind of Pacman.
All bravado, no results. Typical. The fans throwing stuff at Ben when he is being carted off. Trashy team, trashy fans and a coach that should take himself out of league. Trashy, ghetto, low class, low IQ....whatever you want to call it, this is what Lewis has built there. Dump him post haste.

 

[fearsomefour]

"You can't have stupid penalties at times like that," Dalton said about Burfict. "Vontaze is obviously a great player for us and he's done a lot of great things, so I'm not saying he's hurting this team, but the penalties are."

Ha. That is like saying...."Its not my being a drunk that hurts me, its the beers."...."Its not the fact I won't work that hurts my ability to pay me bills, its the bills."....or whatever example you want to make. Grow a set.

"He was selfish and small minded, he cared more about himself than the team. We lost because we are an undisciplined, stupid football team. The last minute of that game....That was not professional football."
Something like that would have been more in line.

 

[Dieter the Brock]

Can't believe McCarron was about to lead that team to victory

 

[Memphis Ram]

View: https://twitter.com/HLandfill/status/686115623903096832

 

[MTRamsFan]

Some of Burfict's actions last night even made some former Univ. of Miami players blush! #ItsAllBoutheU!

 

[Zombie Slayer]

I would say yes. Sometimes you need a change in coach to get the team over the hump. Kind of like what Gruden did in TB or Dungy did in Indianapolis. Lewis has lost that team. Either he needs to go or those bonehead players costing them the game yesterday do. As a Rams fan I wish my team was making the playoffs every year like them but when you can't even win one playoff game, something needs to change.