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Little late to the party, but me 2 cents.
I never credited ML with building a roster. Kind of the opposite. Hell, not 'kind of.'
ML was horrible about not playing guys he didn't like or he didn't think fit in. He preferred middle-of-the-road guys over guys who might have an upside. He valued consistency, even if it meant mediocrity.
Marvin played games with the mindset that if he stayed at an even keel, he'd just win when the other team made a mistake.
I don't think ZT coaches that way. And we haven't built rosters that way the last few years.
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(12-26-2021, 09:09 PM)fredtoast Wrote: No it isn't. Not even close. The '90's was the era that created the "bungles". Marvin's tenure was the longets sustained winning era in team history.
False.
From 1973 to 1988 (16 seasons):
127-111 (.534 win %)
8 winning seasons
2 super bowls
Marvin from 2003 to 2018 (16 seasons)
131-122-3 (.518 win %)
7 winning seasons
0 playoff wins
If you want to talk about 2011 to 2015, fine, but you said "Marv's tenure was the longest sustained winning era in franchise history". This isn't true.
The training, nutrition, medicine, fitness, playbooks and rules evolve. The athlete does not.
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Something else to consider. IF Taylor can get to the playoffs this year. He would have done it in the same amount of years as Marvin Lewis, 3. Yeah, his 1st years are uglier than Marvs, but he would have accomplished the same thing in the same amount of time. If that’s the case, I feel you can wipe the slate clean for Taylor, and see where he takes us from there. Remember, there were 4 years between Marvin’s 1st playoff appearance and 2nd playoff appearance.
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(12-26-2021, 11:04 PM)Benton Wrote: ML was horrible about not playing guys he didn't like or he didn't think fit in.
Actually he was much smarter than the fans about this because not a single player the fans claimed he was "holding back" ever went on to be a good player on another team.
Every year fans were crying about how Marvin was keeping some star on the bench, but when those players moved on to other teams they never became big contributors. WR Kevin Walter is the only example I can think of in 16 years, but the funny thing is that I don't remember Kevin being a big favorite of Bengal fans.