Cincinnati Bengals fans know all to well about moral victories when it comes to the Bengals.  Cincinnati fans have a long list of former Bengals Coaches and players who were all about moral victories.  We even have a team Owner who was happy with moral victories for almost fifteen years. 

Well now we can add Marvin Lewis to the list.  The one Bengals coach in the last 15 years that has always stood up against the moral victory cry laid right down in the comfort of a moral victory after the game on Sunday and made him self and his team feel comfortable and right at home.

After seeing the game on Sunday the fact Marin Lewis is talking moral victories may be the one thing that leads me to believe the season may truly be over for the 2007 Bengals.  This is not the Marvin Lewis we hired.  The Marvin Lewis who started with the Bengals appears to be long gone.  The guy who spoke of winning at all cost, do your job, play as a team, and no one is above the team is gone.  The guy who preached winning is all that matters in the NFL, and that the Bengals would be winners is gone.  He is gone and unfortunately now is when we need him the most.

I am not sure what happened to Marvin Lewis along the way, but he appears to have gotten away from the things that made him the coach he was in the first place.  Bengals fans had total faith in the Marvin Lewis the Bengals hired.  We have all heard the phrase thrown around in Cincinnati “In Marvin We Trust”.  That trust seems to be dissipating quicker than the Bengal’s ability to win a football game.

Good coaches don’t talk about moral victories, especially in the NFL. The reason being is very simple.  The NFL is where the big boys come to play.  It is a league dominated by winners and a league that eats its own if it means a win.  It is a league made up of haves and have not’s, professionals and losers.  Moral victories are things that losing coaches like to discuss.  It is a cheap way to try to disguise the fact that you are losing.  It is a way to divert attention from a bad situation that is usually only going to get worse.  

I liked the Marvin Lewis who the Bengals hired five years ago.  He was straight to the point, all about winning, not willing to accept anything less then a player’s best, and not one to give excuses.  Under no circumstances did he allow the monkeys to run the zoo.

The Bengals could use a Coach like that right now.

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