NFL Coach Power Rankings: Where Jay Gruden fits in among the 32 coaches

Per usual, the Cincinnati Bengals had one of the stranger offseasons in the NFL. In the closing month of the 2017 season, it was a foregone conclusion that they were going to part ways with long-time head coach Marvin Lewis. Lewis, who had been the team’s head coach since the 2003 season, was coming off back-to-back losing seasons and the team wasn’t performing up to snuff in 2017.

But somehow, he managed to keep his job and is the second longest tenured head coach in the NFL as a result. And the reason for this is easy to see. Bengals owner Mike Brown loves continuity and didn’t want to entrust the Bengals organization with just any head coach. Once it became clear that he couldn’t have the candidate he wanted, and it’s possible that Jay Gruden was on that shortlist, Lewis was brought back for another season.

In all fairness, Lewis does have a somewhat impressive resume. In 14 seasons with the Bengals, he has posted a record of 125-112-3. During that time, he has also led the team to seven playoff appearances, which is a major achievement given how poorly regarded the Bengals were prior to Lewis’ term with the team.

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That said, there is still a lot of qualms to be had with Lewis. The first is that he has never won a playoff game during his time as a head coach. That’s right. Despite getting the Bengals to the playoffs seven times, and getting them there in 6-of-7 seasons at one point, they never won a game. Lewis definitely deserves part of the blame for this, as the squad had the talent necessary to pull off at least one victory during the time that they ruled the NFC North. But alas, they never figured out how to do it.

It also appeared that, at the end of his time in Cincinnati, Lewis had run his course. The team’s offense had badly regressed due to downgrades on the offensive line, but Andy Dalton didn’t look great either. The defense also regressed in 2017, and that could be blamed on Lewis’ coaching. After spending so much time in one place, it can get redundant hearing the same messages and hearing about the same problems. And it really looked like it was time to move on from Lewis because of the lack of effort and inability to adapt to change.

Lewis has one top 10 offense and five top 10 defenses during his 14 year tender. That isn’t enough to be considered a consistent threat, let alone a dynasty. And it still baffles me that he has been a part of three ties during his career. He is the only coach since the turn of the millennium to have multiple ties. So, it’s clear that his late, close game strategy isn’t all that good.

At this point, Lewis is what he is. A veteran coach who isn’t able to get enough out of his players to consistently win games. He deserves a low spot on this list, as it’s unlikely that he will be able to help the Bengals get back to postseason contention. He probably should have gone elsewhere this offseason.