What did you think of Marvin Lewis' decision?

Here's a post-game comment from an unsettled Cincinnati Bengals dressing room:  "When your back's against the wall, you gotta come out and fight. If you curl up like a coward, it's gonna be a long season."  That was from receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh.  It was not coach Marvin Lewis, who ended up in the fetal position on this one.

There are several reasons Cincinnati lost 24-13 to Pittsburgh Sunday and fell to 2-5, but there was one play, one decision, one big momentum swing that everyone was talking about afterward.  Down 14-3 with just over two minutes left in the half, the Bengals had a fourth-and-one at the Steelers' two yard line.  At first it looked as if Cincinnati was going to go for it and the record crowd roared in approval. Then Lewis called time-out and after some spirited sideline discussion — Houshmandzadeh admitted he and some other Bengals lobbied to go for the touchdown — the coach sent his field goal unit out as the crowd booed.

And while Graham did kick a 20-yard field goal, Pittsburgh got the ball back and promptly drove 67 muscle-flexing yards for a touchdown with four seconds left.  What could have been a 14-10 halftime deficit for the Bengals instead was a 21-6 Steelers' lead.  It may turn out that no one coaching move by Lewis in his five seasons here will have more of a ripple effect. The Bengals lost the game and any realistic shot at making the playoffs.

And such goal line timidity can cause a coach to lose stature among players. The fourth-and-one waffle showed a lack of confidence in his team, some indecisiveness on his part and could almost be construed as a moment of white flag surrender.  Not quite the caliber of Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Courthouse or the Japanese on the deck of the U.S.S. Missouri, but dramatic enough in its own right.

After the game, Lewis — now 0-6 against the Steelers at Paul Brown Stadium — admitted his team was out-played and he was out-coached:  "In hindsight I guess we should have gone for it on fourth-and-one rather than take the points. I didn't anticipate them driving down and getting a touchdown before halftime."  Although no player publicly took Lewis to task afterward, some thoughts did surface:

"Against a team like (Pittsburgh) — when they're rolling like they have been on offense — you can't kick field goals, you need to put up seven points," said quarterback Carson Palmer.  While tackle Levi Jones said he supported Lewis' decision, another lineman disgustedly grumbled expletives about the call.  Had Lewis decided to go for it and the team failed, there still would have been an upside. He would have been saying "I believe in you guys."

Asked if he thought it was a sign that Lewis lacks confidence in the offense, Houshmandzadeh shrugged: "It could possibly be that 'cause fourth-and-1, why wouldn't you go for it?" He suggested asking Lewis that at his Monday press conference. In the meantime, he offered his own assessment: "I guess that's why Pittsburgh's a good team at 5-2 and we're the exact opposite at 2-5. Good teams get in the end zone and teams like us kick field goals."

Dayton Daily News

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