01-04-2019, 11:35 AM
(01-01-2019, 04:53 PM)KillerGoose Wrote: No. It would have made me happier as a fan to see that playoff victory but my opinion of Marvin would be the same. “The time has come” would still be my thought.
What an amazing week it would have been (should have been) following that long-awaited playoff win! Big picture, though, it would have little impact on how I feel about him now.
(01-01-2019, 05:46 PM)Destro Wrote: The bare minimum, ( and I mean excepting no less than ), is we should have 3 playoff wins by now, and I would still likely want him gone after the last three years. People with rings were let go for less.
I have to respectfully disagree. The bare minimum for a coach of 16 years should have been a Super Bowl victory. I'm sure most of us have seen the stat showing this season's longest tenured coaches with every other one listed having won a Super Bowl.
Zero playoff wins obviously gets a lot of attention for a couple of reasons. First of all, 0-for-anything invites the spotlight. However, that is magnified by the fact that he holds the record for most playoff appearances without a playoff win. Aside from the glaring absurdity of that stat, his legacy is dictated by what that represents - the lowest level of achievement that he could not reach. He won the division and reached the playoffs, but failed to advance. If he had won that one playoff game, the focus would be that he could not even reach the conference championship game. If he gets to the AFC championship game and loses, we focus on how he couldn't get to the Super Bowl. Naturally, if he gets to the Super Bowl & fails, it becomes all about how to couldn't win the big game.
The further he climbs that ladder of accomplishment, the better his legacy, but each step is not treated equally. Going from zero to one playoff win is not going to garner the same respect as going from conference runner-up to conference champion (and that would pale in comparison from going from losing the Super Bowl to winning it). If Marvin Lewis has managed to reach the Super Bowl & lose, then he's likely mentioned with the same reverence as Forrest Gregg & Sam Wyche. Ultimately, a single playoff win would have done little more than tweaked the memory of what was a long, mediocre head coaching career.
