Watching Lewis early teams...wow.

[wolfkaosaun]

We've had players with that type of attitude since 2005-06

Heck, Adam Jones and Vontaze Burfict are the embodiment of that swagger you're talking about, and they helped cost us a playoff win in 2015.
Do you mean guys like Chad Johnson, TJ Houshmandzadeh, Chris Henry, Odell Thurman, and so on?
Because we've had Chad for years after that.
Jeremy Hill definitely had confidence and swagger to him.
As has Jermaine Gresham.
Heck, Jermaine Gresham was always fired up on the field. He would be the first person to congratulate a player on a TD, defend a player in an altercation, jump up and down, etc. He may not have been the greatest tight end, but he definitely had heart.
Dre Kirkpatrick. Carlos Dunlap. Peko.
There's been NUMEROUS players like that before.

But yes, schemes were different.
And the Bengals were the 5th worst defense in 2005. They also gave up the 11th most points in the NFL that year too.
In 2006? 3rd worst defense in the NFL.
Much better in points, as they ranked 17th.

Also, the Bengals were 6-10 against teams with winning records those two years.
From 2012-13, the Bengals were 7-5 against teams with winning records.

The defense is awful now, but let's not act like Marvin's early years were completely amazing. They had faults. It was the Bengals first success in SO many years, and it deserves praise.
But to act like those teams are much different than the other talented teams the Bengals have put together since doesn't really work; as Marvin has put together teams very much like his early years.