Marvin Lewis Takes First Steps Towards Joining Who Dey Revolution

In one of the most important developments of the offseason, Marvin Lewis has taken steps towards joining the Who Dey Revolution by telling his players that his goal for the upcoming season is to win the Super Bowl.

Marvin told his players in a closed door meeting:  "He said we have enough talent in the room - and he said right now - to win the Super Bowl," [Carson] Palmer said of Lewis' message to players. "Don't wait for things to happen. Don't think that we'll be a good team in years to come. Don't think that there's a Super Bowl in our future and you can take your time and be lackadaisical about it. You need to be aggressive. You need to want it. You need to be hungry for it. And now's the time."

To me, this statement by Lewis is more important than any Bengals free agent signing this year. 

This might seem to be a trivial matter - but the Bengals have a long and storied career of placing many other factors in higher regard than winning, such as loyalty to coaches who agree to play by Mike Brown's rules (Dave Shula, Bruce Coslet), to stubbornness and false pride in dealing with players (Corey Dillon, Chad Johnson) and squeezing every dollar out of the team possible to line the Brown families pocket (sweetheart stadium deal, no winter training complex, smallest scouting department in the NFL).

Setting the tone early that the team will be satisfied with nothing less than a Super Bowl draws a line in the sand.  Super Bowl talk is so rare in Cincy that Mark Curnette actually called it "the 'S' word!"  At the risk of sounding like a Chinese philosopher, a team does not achieve success until it demands success. 

Bengals players have suffered through 5 months of the offseason having to deal with more stories of arrests, of Chad Johnson throwing temper tantrums and of reminders that the team has been utterly disappointing the last two seasons.  With his statement that the team must win NOW, Marvin has taken the first steps to instilling a winning attitude in the locker room.

I have long believed that Marvin Lewis is engaged in an eternal struggle with Mike Brown over control of the team.  With only unsubstantiated rumors as support, it seems that it was Brown who demanded that the team keep around Chris Henry and Odell Thruman for as long as they did, sacrificing locker room cohesion in the process.  Hopefully with the releasing of Henry and Odell, and Marvin's commitment to a Super Bowl NOW, he is beginning to exert more control over the direction of the team.

Comments

[Jonathan Smith]

So let me get this straight... You are applauding Marvin for giving a generic pep talk to his team before the season??????? This is truly sad. If he really wanted to display a WIN NOW attitude, then he would have given the speech to Mike Brown before the draft, traded Chad Johnson to the Skins, traded up to get Cedric Ellis, and NOT drafted a 1aa receiver in the second round!!!!!!!! Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't that have been the attitude of a coach trying to instill a "winning culture" in the locker room/organization?!?!?! Jesus Simon, you're staring to turn into another Mark Curnutte (and that's not a complimnet)! Don't give praise to this sorry excuse for a pro football team until they actually make a move that seems even halfway logical to the rest of the football world. Until then; GO REDS!

[Andrew Simon]

Jonathan - correct ME if I am wrong - do you actually believe that Mike Brown lets Marvin decide who the team trades and drafts? You are blaming Marvin for player personnel issues he has little control over. At the end of the day, Mike Brown makes these decisions. Look at the last 17 years as evidence before valuing excessive punctuation over facts.

[Jonathan Smith]

Simon, I don't think that Marvin makes the decisions about drafting and personnel (c'mon man, Give me more credit than that), but if he wanted my respect, then he would tell Mike Brown what he thinks. If I were working for a boss who was a complete moron, I would do everything in my power to distance myself from being associated with his stupidity (especially if I would ultimately be held responsible for the bad decisions). Instead, he does exactly what you say Dave Shula and Bruce Coslet were guilty of. He keeps his mouth shut, and goes along with Mike Brown's insanity with a smile on his face (prime example was when he lied in the press conference and said that the team had received no calls about Chad Johnson, after Chris Mortensen had already reported otherwise). So yeah, his job is safe for a while, but the city will turn on him after another 8-8 season, and eventually Mike Brown will be forced to get rid of him. And since he never had the balls to stand up to him, the rest of the NFL will believe that it was his fault that the Bengals were chronic underachievers, and he will never get another head coaching job in the NFL again.

So when you give him praise for something so simple as a pre season speech, a stupid t-shirt, and an unattainable goal, I get a little annoyed, and think it is a little unwarranted. Calling the hype up speech "one of the most important developments in our offseason," is laughable in itself, and proves how truly pathetic this teamn is. If you go to any locker room in any level of football, the goal is to win every game, and ultimately a championship. It's not like Marvin has had some great epiphany this offseason, and has come up with a new recipe for winning. I will say he has joined the Who Dey Revolution when he goes to Mike Brown or the media and demands that Mike Brown provide him with the necessary tools to be successful! Until then, GO REDS!

[Andrew Simon]

JS - the whole point of this post was to point out that, unlike every team, the Bengals in the past have not had the goal of winning a championship. All things being equal, would Mike Brown want to win a Super Bowl. OF COURSE. But will the team do whatever it takes to make that happen? That is why Marvin demanding nothing less than a SB is so important - that level of expectation is a change of attitude from past years.

And I think you are expecting WAY too much out of Marvin. Don't forget, Mike Brown is his boss! Do you really expect him to publically criticize his own boss? Don't forget that Marvin was passed over repeatedly for head coaching jobs in the NFL before Brown came calling. NFL head coaching is different than jobs you or I may have - there are only 32 in the world. And you have no idea what Marvin has told Mike Brown behind closed doors.

[Winn]

I see both sides of the argument. On the one hand you have to take pep talks for granted. But I think Andrew's main point is that the pep "talk", which is just words, was accompanied by some actions which were the releases of Odell and Henry (two superior talents by any standard.) No serious judgments can be made until we see follow up and consistency on Marvin's part. This could be the start of a new Marvin, or it could be a weak excuse for a motivational tool as Jonathan points out. We will have to wait and see.

[Fulcher33]

Andrew, I certainly don't think Jonathon is expecting too much from Marvin. I understand that Marvin's role as an NFL Head Coach is far different than the other 31 head coaches in the league. He answers to a man who is so concerned of losing power over his own team that he will never relinquish the decision making to anyone outside of his own family. That being said, Marvin is still a head coach and it is his job to question the decisions made by Brown and offer his own opinion. I'm not saying Marvin should do this publically, because I do believe in keeping issues in-house, but he is definitely EXPECTED to offer his opinion and views behind close doors. If Marvin truly wants to win a Super Bowl as the article claims through his "pep talk" than he should be willing to question the direction of the franchise whether or not that puts his job at risk. Brown can't and won't fire a coach that wins the Super Bowl, even a playoff game for that matter, no matter how much he dislikes him. you can counter with the "firing" of Wyche, but that was a different era. The Bengals were coming off a playoff season and recent Super Bowl appearance, no one would've guessed that the next playoff win would be 15 years away.

As to this "pep talk", it is a bunch of BS. Do you really believe that Marvin hasn't sat his team down at the beginning of each season over the past five years and told them that they have the talent to win the Super bowl? Give me a break, you're being exteremely naieve if you think this is something new. Marvin is trying to pick morale up and nothing more. I am sure every veteran walked out of that meeting thinking, "We've heard that speech before".

[Nick]

Fulcher33: While I would like to agree with your post, I can't. The level of expectations from the fans is incredibly low. If the Bengals go 10-6 and lose in the first round the city is entrhalled. I can not remember one important person in the Bengals organization stating, "Our Goal is to win the Super Bowl this year." Marvin did that. He is rightly setting the bar high.....something NO ONE in the Mike Brown era has ever done. It is sad we have to discuss this issue, but that is the sad state of affairs.

[IgnatiusJReilly]

You know, it's all well and good to give that high-falutin' pep talk to your squad. Nothing wrong with a little positive thinking, right?

Well, when the reality is that the same essential cast of characters that gave us such an anemic running game(which led to Carson having to force passes where they weren't welcome, and so on...) is still in place. Our best receiver has gone postal- and shouldn't be allowed anywhere near our locker room with his viral malaise. Our defense may well be much improved but even that vaunted Ravens D folded eventually under the pressure of perpetual three and outs.

The proper response to Marvin's speech? What's he smoking?