Marvin Lewis on the hot seat? Hardly.

This Jim Walker, Ironton Online piece, really gets it wrong. Walker claims that Cleveland Browns head coach, Romeo Crennel and Cincinnati Bengals head coach, Marvin Lewis, is on the hot seat. The only real reason the writer claims Lewis is on the cherry red hot potato is because of the players antics off the field. Since the NFL is holding a similar trend of players gone wild, there's no reason to believe that owners will actively fire their coaches because of this specific reason.

Ten players arrested is a lot, no doubt. But Lewis isn't the one getting arrested. Even so, if that were the criteria, then many head coaches would be on the hot seat. Furthermore, Lewis is too far integrated into the Bengals that firing him over this isn't realistic. His community work alone should cancel out the over-zealous reaction to fire him. And Mike Brown, or anyone else in the front office, have been nothing but supportive of Lewis. He's done more than just break the losing bank. He's changed the culture of the team. Older fans have come back in full force remembering the glory days. And new fans are just as fanatical as veteran fans with no intention of jumping off the train.

You can make the claim that Lewis has indirectly helped the team's worth. From 2003 to 2006, the Bengals have seen a 46% increase in value and a $34 million increase (24%) in revenue (Forbes valuation numbers). In that, Mike Brown is a very happy owner.

That aside, Lewis' record of avoiding losing seasons is another example why he's not on the hot seat. Playoffs or not, the Bengals have slowly developed into a contender each week. In 2005, the Bengals went 11-5 finishing with their first playoff appearance in over a decade. If you actively followed the Bengals in 2006, then you'll note that injury, and distraction, clearly brought disappointment in the end. Even so, the Bengals were 8-5 with three games left and one win away from having back-to-back seasons in the playoffs. Surprisingly, the last time that happened was in the 1981-82 seasons.

It would be the worst approach to have a "what have you done for me lately" reaction right now. A simple over-reaction to fire the head coach because of conduct issues could play out badly. Think about it. First, do we really trust the Mike Brown administration to get another head coaching choice right? Brown wanted Mike Malarchy. Katie Blackburn, Brown's daughter, supported Marvin Lewis and convinced father. Second, do we really want to go through another rebuilding period while the new head coach hires his own coaching staff and players to support new schemes. Third, there's never a guarantee that a new head coach will bring anything beyond the successes of the current coach.

Just ask Brown about the coaches he's hired between Sam Wyche and Marvin Lewis.