Athlon Magazine Picks Bengals 3rd in AFC

[*jason*]

(06-18-2017, 03:01 PM)Shake n Blake Wrote: My stance is that if players are fumbling, throwing picks, choking games away, not blocking, etc...then maybe the coaches aren't coaching them up well enough. Either that, or we picked some shitty players, and our coaches seem heavily involved with that as well. I understand blaming players. I do it myself (depending on circumstances), but I never just blame players and let coaches off the hook. When you hand pick players and your job is to get them to perform, them's the breaks. Chain of command and all that jazz. 

As to your point, it got me curious to look at how the Bengals have performed under Marvin down the stretch each year. By my count, we've been in the playoff hunt late in the season 9 times. In 7 of those seasons, we had a disappointing record down the stretch (lost last couple games, lost 3 of last 5, etc). In contrast, we've been out of the playoff chase 5 times, and in all 5 of those seasons, we've had a surprisingly good finish all 5 times. 

Simply put, Marvin's teams just can't handle pressure (news flash, I know). The only time where the Bengals really turned in a clutch run to make the playoffs was in 2012, when they started 3-5, then went 7-1 to finish the season. Outside of that, they tend to fold as pressure mounts, or bounce back (dead-cat bounce) when the pressure is off. Add all this to the terrible record against the Steelers (chief rival) and their record in prime-time and playoffs, and it's easy to see the impact a coach can have on a team.

The Bengals finishing strong in those 5 seasons that they've been out of the hunt shows me that players don't quit on Marvin. It's one of the few compliments I can still pay him. May be it is because the pressure is off, as you suggest, but I've seen plenty of other teams just mail it in in similar situations.