Cincinnati Bengals

With Marvin Lewis calling the shots, the NFL's longest-suffering fans have reason for hope

By Peter King

Team Page | Schedule | Depth chart | 2002 Stats | Predicted finish: 4th in AFC North

New Bengals coach Marvin Lewis is the first man other than team founder Paul Brown and his relatives to have the authority to make personnel decisions. So it should come as no surprise that Lewis is also the first man to bring hope to this moribund franchise since wacky Sam Wyche was driving game officials, women's groups and the NFL commissioner crazy as Cincinnati's coach in the late 1980s.

The air of optimism is the biggest change around these parts. Ask any of the Bengals. Ask any Cincinnati fan who has had to endure a league-high 12 straight seasons without a winning record. "When I'd run into fans in the off-season," guard Matt O'Dwyer says, "the first thing they'd always ask me is, 'Is Mike Brown really giving up power?'" Club president Mike Brown, one of Paul's three sons, is good-hearted, but since becoming the franchise's football architect following his father's death in 1991, Mike has graded out as an F. Though Brown hasn't ceded total control to Lewis, he allowed the new coach to pursue the free agents and draft the players he wanted.

Kitna says he sees a confidence in the players that didn't exist during his first two years as a Bengal. Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

Lewis, the respected longtime defensive coordinator, also cut loose nine of the team's 15 assistant coaches, including former Bengals stars Ken Anderson and Tim Krumrie. He nudged old-school strength coach Kim Wood, in the job for 28 years, into retirement and oversaw a $250,000 upgrade of the weight room. He emphasized speed training and the importance of a proper nutritional diet. He refused to beg the team's best defensive player, linebacker Takeo Spikes, to return, letting him go to Buffalo in free agency. He tried to convince free agents from other teams that Cincinnati wasn't Siberia, and good players such as linebacker Kevin Hardy, defensive tackle John Thornton and cornerback Tory James picked the Bengals over better teams.

One of Paul Brown's beliefs was that players should use the off-season to prepare for life after football, meaning the Bengals had never stressed the off-season strength and conditioning program. That was O.K. a generation ago, when few players worked out hard from March through June, but times have changed. So Lewis implemented the same voluntary (read: mandatory) off-season regimen that is now standard around the league. At least 45 players were regular participants in the 14-week program. "So many guys came," says wideout Peter Warrick, "that we had to split into groups and come at assigned times. The weight room got too crowded."

"Marvin is in total control," says quarterback Jon Kitna, "and whatever the situation was before, the players knew Dick LeBeau [Lewis's predecessor] didn't have that control. I don't care what anyone says: If the players don't have faith in who has control, you're not going to succeed. And I can tell through one off-season and training camp with Marvin, the attitude is 100 percent better. The players think they can win."

More important, the players think they are being given every opportunity to succeed. "Marvin stresses so many little things because he says little things lose games," says O'Dwyer. "That reminds me of what Bill Parcells used to say when I was with the Jets. Both guys want you to be accountable for everything."

Lewis has looked for every edge he can find. He was adamant about traveling to the team's three regular-season games out West -- against the Raiders, Cardinals and Chargers -- on the Friday before the game instead of on Saturday. Brown originally thought it was a waste of time and money, but he came around to Lewis's way of thinking. "Over the years I've found that when you take the West Coast trips, or you go to Florida, family comes out of the woodwork," he says. "I wanted to go out on Friday, let the players have family time on Friday night and Saturday morning, then have the hotel become the safe haven for players about noon on Saturday. Mike was willing to change. So far this job is everything people said it wasn't. Mike's been flexible."

Indeed, things are looking up for the Bengals.

Enemy Lines: An opposing scout's view

"You can't underestimate the impact of a coaching and philosophy change. Carolina won games last year because of John Fox's presence and his demands. The same thing will happen here with Marvin Lewis.... The only thing I can't figure out is why they let their best defensive player go -- and got nothing for him. If they had put the franchise tag on [free agent] Takeo Spikes, they could have worked a trade and gotten something for him. To think that Kevin Hardy is going to be a good replacement for Spikes, with Hardy's injury history, is ridiculous.... I like the potential of Justin Smith as a pass rusher, and the John Thornton acquisition was one of the most underrated moves of the off-season. He's strong against the run and the pass.... The secondary is weak, and it won't be fixed by Tory James. He's poor in man coverage.... On offense the Bengals have two excellent players: Corey Dillon, who could play for me any day, and Chad Johnson, a bona fide Number 1 receiver. He's got a big mouth, but he produces. He's sneaky fast.... Jon Kitna [messes up] just enough to get you beat.... The line looks leaky to me, but I love Eric Steinbach. He'll be a solid guard for 10 years."

Under the Gun

The fourth pick in the 2000 draft, Peter Warrick has been a disappointment, with only one 100-yard receiving game. The Bengals need a second receiver to pair with Chad Johnson, and observers say Warrick has been reborn under coach Marvin Lewis. Maybe the drafting of Tennessee's Kelley Washington got Warrick's attention.

Issue date: September 1, 2003