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As evidenced by a 3-5-1 record to the start of the 2016 season, it appears the Bengals haven’t been able to get over a multitude of offseason issues. Whether it’s because of player attrition, coaching turnover, a hangover from the Wild Card loss to the Steelers, or all of the above, the team isn’t playing the same level of football we saw last year, which led to a 12-4 record.
Because of the continued issues on primetime and against quality teams, an inevitable discussion on Marvin Lewis’ future is occurring. We discussed that topic (13:00 mark), as well as the pros and cons that could come with his potential departure. The team is still theoretically in the mix for the postseason this year, but if things continue to fall apart, more questions are going to arise.
“He has this very strong tendency of hanging on to mediocre players too long,” co-host Scott Schultze said of Lewis. “Favoring a veteran over better, younger players, in terms of making the roster and playing time...You know what you’re going to get, we know what he can do, we know what he can’t do, and I think the things he can’t do have limited the team or kept them from doing the things they could have done.”
“I kind of get this feeling that when the Bengals start to lose, fans keep going back to the same narratives,” co-host Connor Howe retorted. If you fire Lewis, you need to consider that the Bengals are probably going to be changing schemes. (Andy) Dalton is going to need to learn something new. A.J. Green is going to need to learn something new. All of these guys who have been in this system for so long, because if Lewis leaves, a good portion of the staff will too, you’re going to need to change things.”
We also answered some fan questions (42:00 mark) and gave our predictions for the critical Week 11 matchup against the Bills. Did we agree on the outcome? Have a listen and find out.
You can get in touch with us on Twitter @BengalsOBI or via email at theobinsider@gmail.com, and you can find our content here at Cincy Jungle, on iTunes, SoundCloud and YouTube. Thanks for listening!