Why is Marv 0-7 in the playoffs?

[CINwillWIN]

(01-18-2017, 04:23 PM)Fan_in_Kettering Wrote: My answer might upset half of the board and alienate the other half, but the OP asked a perfectly legitimate question about Marvin Lewis and his 0-7 playoff record as head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals.   We need to examine Marvin's overall playoff record as he was also the linebacker coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers from 1992-1995 and the Ravens' defensive coordinator from 1996-2001.  Marvin's overall playoff record is 4-13.  The Steelers won a few postseason games with Marvin coaching the linebackers but they lost their only Super Bowl appearance during his tenure.  With the Ravens, Marvin was the record-setting defensive coordinator during their Super Bowl win in 2001.

Now, you ask, why are the Bengals 0-7 in postseason play with Marvin as head coach?  What he didn't learn in Pittsburgh or Baltimore is this:  Postseason play is not like regular season play.  It's harder, it's faster, and it's more intense.  One cannot game plan for a playoff game as if it were taking place mid-season.  Urban Meyer fell into the same bad habit against Clemson and got the Buckeyes' butts kicked in the process.  If we learned anything from watching Aaron Rodgers play this past weekend, for example, it is about how to raise one's personal level of play to new heights.  That doesn't happen with the Bengals in the postseason; the players seem to underperform, often embarrassingly so.  Basically their regular season effort doesn't cut it against teams primed for postseason play; it's that simple.

Now why?  Why has Marvin not prepared these players for battle?  The answer lies in reading The Godfather and focusing on the character of Tom Hagen, the Corleone Family consigliere.  Tom is a brilliant lawyer and through intellect and cunning, he keeps the Corleones out of trouble.  However, when Santino goes to war against the Five Families, he replaces Hagen as consigliere because, in Santino's words, "Tom, I need a wartime consigliere."  Hagen, brilliant as he was, wasn't suited for the brutality of cosa nostra warfare.  When the Corleones won the war, Hagen was put back into his old position.  Think of Marvin Lewis as a Tom Hagen character:  Brilliant at normal operations but wholly outclassed in wartime. i.e. the playoffs.

Like the Godfather reference...too bad he isn't more like Fredo...eh? eh?? *wink wink*
(For those wondering, if you never saw the series, Fredo was like a pimp. He was the Godfather's nephew and would get his esteemed, out-of-town, big shot guests laid and then ironically, Fredo himself, got offed' by the Godfather... So, Marvin isn't getting anyone 'laid' when he coaches in the playoffs....  ...just ask my wife.)