Marvin Lewis’ seat is as hot as can be

ESPN put together a list of NFL head coaches, and just how hot their seats are.

To no one's surprise the Bengals’ head coach Marvin Lewis was ranked in the hottest category.

The Bengals had yet another prime-time meltdown against the Steelers on Monday night, and their chances of making the playoffs are almost nonexistent now. They couldn't reach a contract agreement with Marvin Lewis before the season, essentially making him a lame-duck coach. A disappointing 2017 season could lead to a mutual parting of ways between the two sides.

At 5-7, this season has gone about as bad as it could’ve gone. After a disappointing season in 2016, the Bengals didn’t give Lewis his annual one-year extension. This was a pretty clear sign that things need to change, and that Mike Brown’s patience may have finally ran up.

The Bengals starting 0-3 really dug them into a hole that they had very little chance of coming out of. The Bengals have failed to seal games they should’ve won, and the only teams they have beaten have a combined 12 wins on the season. That includes two wins against the Browns, who are winless on the season.

Really, as soon as this season started, the problem was clearly coaching. The Bengals started the season looking lost on offense.

So, they ended up firing Ken Zampese after Week 2. Bill Lazor has helped, but the mess of an offensive line took most of the season to correct.

The Bengals also opted to use Jeremy Hill a lot early in the season, despite Joe Mixon clearly being the better back. To the point, it very well could’ve costed them the first game against the Steelers, where the Bengals wasted their first drive out of the half with Hill out there after the rookie was on fire in the first half. Mixon never received another touch for the rest of the game.

Then, there is the complete mismanagement of John Ross. After Ross fumbled early in Week 2, the team sat the rookie in a game they lost 13-9, and they could’ve really used a game-changing receiver. Then, after he finally recovered from a knee injury, Ross had a miscommunication with Andy Dalton in a Week 10 loss to the Titans. He became a healthy scratch after that before finally being put on injured reserve with a shoulder injury.

That brings us to the biggest mismanagement by the coaches, the offensive line. The Bengals let Andrew Whitworth and Kevin Zeitler walk in free agency after the offensive line was already bad last season.

Instead of trying upgrade the line though, they decided to trust Cedric Ogbuehi and Jake Fisher to be able to develop. They only ended up bringing in Andre Smith during free agency.

Then, they had all of training camp to watch how bad their offensive line was, but changes never happened until Week 3 when the team started rotating tackles. In the two games before that, Andy Dalton had his confidence (and possibly actual body parts) crushed.

That also never became an actual solution to the problem, but Lazor did what he could to fix the mess that Lewis and Zampese allowed to happen right in front of their faces.

It is obvious Lewis needs to be gone after this season, though it is important to remember how much he did for this team. Before he arrived this team was a laughingstock, and the locker room was a joke.

Lewis came in and changed the culture. He provided us stability and hope for his tenure here, but it is time for a change before he undoes all of the good he’s done.