The 2016 NFL season can't get here soon enough, especially for Bengals fans hoping to get the bad taste of last season out of their mouth.
What was shaping up to be a memorable season ended in disaster as Cincinnati gave away a playoff game to their biggest rivals in Pittsburgh. It was easily one of the most gut-wrenching losses the franchise has ever suffered, and it's one some think could affect the moral of this team going into next season.
Marvin Lewis thinks it's merely another learning experience his team must build off to keep working towards their ultimate goals. In an interview with Sirius XM NFL Radio, Lewis continued to emphasize how the Bengals have learned from their mistakes and moved on to the upcoming season.
"We've moved on from that," Lewis said referring to the loss. "Our preparation now is for this 2016 football season. Those adverse moments that you get into in a football game, in a football season, you learn from each and every one of those.
"You don't make excuses about them, but you learn from them and you move forward from them, and they become a part of your identity, part of your history, and you don't want to tread that water anymore. You know how to do better and handle yourself in different situations. There's gonna be situations arise all the time."
Lewis has led the Bengals through tough moments before and seems to think he'll be able to do it again as the Bengals march forward and work on winning games in 2016.
"That's part of the league, and we've handled them right. In that case, things didn't go our way, and we've got a look at it, we've had the hardship of it, and you move forward."
This isn't the first time this offseason that Lewis has expressed his team moving past that playoff loss. Back in April, Lewis revealed that April 18th was the day the team was coming together to bury that loss as offseason workouts began.
"There's nothing they can do about it now," Lewis told NFL.com's Albert Breer. "We're gonna learn to answer the question and press on. Everyone keeps bringing it up. We have to move on. It's done and gone. April 18, it gets buried. It gets exorcised. And then we move on and we've got put our heads down and do everything we can to earn our way back into the playoffs."
Here is the full Sirius XM interview with Lewis for your listening pleasure.