Marvin Lewis antagonizing Chad Ochocinco has got to stop.
What began, we suspect, as a head coach teasing his wide receiver through the media in December, has turned into a back-and-forth between Lewis and Chad Ochocinco. Granted, Chad tends to have thin skin when people aren't showing him constant love. And granted, most of Lewis' comments seem to be in a joking nature -- which Chad doesn't appear to be reading them as. But there's enough foolishness embarrassing this organization right now. Jokes or not, these two have to stop.
In December before the game against the Chargers, Lewis called Chad Ochocinco mopey for not talking to the San Diego media. In truth, Chad was getting work done on an ankle with bone spurs that kept him out during the final two games of the year. Still, Chad felt he was thrown under the bus. When Lewis returned to the Bengals after signing a two-year contract, Ochocinco wasn't thrilled, saying he's not sure if the two can coexist.
When asked about Chad's tweet that a Bill Belichick union would be "epic", Marvin Lewis said:
"Nobody was talking about him. He didn't stand that," Lewis said. "You want them to talk about you, win football games."
When pressed about it during Senior Bowl week, Marvin Lewis said that "Belichick's smarter than that."
Chad Ochocinco tweeted that before the season, he wants a cage match with his head coach. TNA Wrestling offered Lewis and Chad the venue.
Does this happen with any other team? Would TNA Wrestling offer the same to Bill Belichick taking on one of his players in a cage match? What about Jim Caldwell? Mike Tomlin? Mike McCarthy? Andy Reid? No.
That being said, Lewis needs to be the one that becomes the professional here. If he don't want Chad on your team, knocking him publicly isn't the way to do it. It just makes him and the team look foolish. And there's already too much foolishness with this team to even be taken seriously.