Marvin Lewis angers NFLPA president Eric Winston with concussion comments

Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis has been criticized for comments he made during Wednesday's press conference, that concussions "linger longer" now because of the media attention that head injuries receive.

"I coached defenses and linebackers for a long time and concussions didn't linger," Lewis told reporters on Wednesday. "Now we have found that because of the media and things they seem to linger longer. There's a lot of attention paid to it. I don't know why they linger longer. I don't remember them lingering like they do now."

Lewis was speaking about Vontaze Burfict, who sustained a concussion against the Falcons back in Week 2 and missed a few weeks during his recovery. Burfict left the field again during a 37-37 tie to Carolina on Sunday to go through the concussion protocol, but he was able to return.

The comments made by Lewis have drawn the ire of NFL Players Association president and former NFL player Eric Winston, who expressed his thoughts on Twitter.

Always good to see the NFL educating their HCs on health/safety. Glad they are taking the lead on serious issues like concussions. #sarcasm

— Eric Winston (@ericwinston) October 15, 2014

Perpetuating the idea that it's the medias fault that concussions "linger" longer just shows how far we still have to go in educating every1

— Eric Winston (@ericwinston) October 15, 2014

Lewis' comments were unnecessary, and frankly, he's brought unnecessary attention to his team. Concussions are a very serious topic in sports, and Lewis has made himself sound tone deaf to it.