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Bengals.com takes a stab at explaining why Stealers dominated Bengals during Marvin Lewis era


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It is no secret Marvin Lewis’ Cincinnati Bengals couldn’t compete with the Pittsburgh Stealers over the course of his 16 years as head coach.

Lewis’ final tally against the Stealers checks in at 8-26 and a 2-16record at home against the rival.

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The “why” behind the eyebrow-raising numbers isn’t easy to explain, though Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com gave it his best shot recently:

Here’s why I think the Stealers dominated the Marvin Lewis Era. While the Bengals would say, “We want to run the ball,” Pittsburgh would say, “We’re going to run the ball.” Big difference.

While much can be said about the fact the Bengals were rebuilding, had restrictions from the front office and on and on, the topic of attitude is indeed perhaps the biggest of all.

 

One doesn’t have to look hard to find quotes of Stealers players treating every game against the Bengals — despite utter domination in the series — as a playoff game. Whereas the Bengals, as fans know, were always led by Lewis saying some iteration of “it’s just another game/one of 16.”

If someone like Hobson inside the building and around the team is pointing that out, it says quite a bit about the whole ordeal.  The disparity in prep, attitude, prime time struggles and against good teams (losses to Kansas City and New Orleans via 45-10 and 51-14 outcomes last year, respectively) are why the Bengals front office finally made a change.

Much can be said about Zac Taylor’s task in front of him in 2019, though simple attitude could end up going a long way.

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I didn't realize Marv actually beat those fuckheads 8 times. I thought it was more like 3. 😂 I remember winning there in 2005 when TJ wiped his ass with the towel or whatever, also beating them in the cow pasture at the end of 2012 taking them out of the playoffs, and then beating them in 2015. Other than those I don't remember shit. 

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4 hours ago, saphead said:

I didn't realize Marv actually beat those fuckheads 8 times. I thought it was more like 3. 😂 I remember winning there in 2005 when TJ wiped his ass with the towel or whatever, also beating them in the cow pasture at the end of 2012 taking them out of the playoffs, and then beating them in 2015. Other than those I don't remember shit. 

Twice in 2009

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30 minutes ago, turningpoint said:

Becuase we ran the ball.

Because Carson couldn’t throw it 20 yards because his arm wasn’t healed yet. 

 

2 hours ago, Jason said:

Twice in 2009

And Pittspuke swept Marv 9 times in 16 years to include 9 straight until he was let go.  

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God damn. That is ugly. Tomlin plays to win and Marv was always playing not to lose. I'd love to know how many one score games we lost to them were a result of the Stealers stealing points after getting the ball with under 2:00 on the clock.

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10 minutes ago, JC said:

God damn. That is ugly. Tomlin plays to win and Marv was always playing not to lose. I'd love to know how many one score games we lost to them were a result of the Stealers stealing points after getting the ball with under 2:00 on the clock.

Well, I don’t know if I can pull that one off easy with Profootbal reference.  The other stuff took about two minutes with their scan feature. 

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I agree with JC above. Marvin always played not to lose. He never would try to score if they had a big lead. How many times have the Ravens and Stealers scored on the Bengals late in a game, just to rub it in? In my opinion the biggest blow to Marvin's coaching career here,(besides his lack of in-game adjustments) was the injury to Palmer. Prior to that he had a killer instinct, after he was afraid of his own shadow in the pocket. If not for that injury, I believe the Bengals would have at least 1 or 2 SB rings.

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Well, doing a quick scan the problem is pretty obvious, in the 32 regular season games against Pittsburgh with Marvin as coach the team outscored Pittsburgh only 4 times in the 3rd quarter.  Pittspuke outscored the Bengals 21 times in the 3rd quarter.   Bengals outscored 71-165 in the 3rd quarter.   The 4th quarter is actually pretty even but most of the games were already out of reach.

 

The stats are really bad across the board. Easily sortable.

 

https://tinyurl.com/y28mo8lk

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Forrest Gregg and Sam Wyche are the only two coaches to have much success against Pittsburgh.  The teams played their first game in 1970 and the Bengals were 6-14 during the 1970s.  Gregg arrived in 1980 and promptly swept the Stealers that season and again in 1981, the first two times the Bengals had ever swept them.  Wyche followed him and swept them in 1984, 1985, 1988, 1989, and 1990.  The two coaches combined for 15-6 during that 1980-90 era.  One thing those two had in common was that they had zero shits to give and were fearless.

 

Things unfortunately returned to normal in 1991 and the Bengals have gone 14-44 since. 

 

Four of the best teams in Bengals franchise history have had their seasons ruined by those bastards:  1975, 1976, 2005, and 2015.  The 1975 and 1976 teams were 0-4 against Pittsburgh but 21-3 against the rest of the league, and we all know about '05 and '15.

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11 hours ago, JC said:

God damn. That is ugly. Tomlin plays to win 

 

to include tripping the other team on the sidelines, if need be.   It's not playing to win so much as playing to see what they can get away with.

 

Which, as it turns out, is usually quite a lot.

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On 6/11/2019 at 3:54 PM, Bleeds Orange said:

Forrest Gregg and Sam Wyche are the only two coaches to have much success against Pittsburgh.  The teams played their first game in 1970 and the Bengals were 6-14 during the 1970s.  Gregg arrived in 1980 and promptly swept the Stealers that season and again in 1981, the first two times the Bengals had ever swept them.  Wyche followed him and swept them in 1984, 1985, 1988, 1989, and 1990.  The two coaches combined for 15-6 during that 1980-90 era.  One thing those two had in common was that they had zero shits to give and were fearless.

 

Things unfortunately returned to normal in 1991 and the Bengals have gone 14-44 since. 

 

Four of the best teams in Bengals franchise history have had their seasons ruined by those bastards:  1975, 1976, 2005, and 2015.  The 1975 and 1976 teams were 0-4 against Pittsburgh but 21-3 against the rest of the league, and we all know about '05 and '15.

One of the biggest differences during the Bengals winning years during 80's was Pitt's lack of a HOF QB at the helm.    The 70's Bengals were usually on par with them.  During Ken anderson's tenure,   In games that he started and finished....he was batting .500.....in games where they cheap shotted, er Knocked ,  him out of the game 0-8.

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I remember that night like it was yesterday. Even from way up in Section 326, that assassination was clear as a bell. And, then that bastard Gary got up and was dancing! The Bengal linemen were on him like stink on shit...I don't know how it never escalated.

 

The SOB got flagged and tossed...but I never recall anything from the NFL after. 

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Key words, "Marvin Lewis era".

Fuck Marv (although I do wish him well)

and Fuck the Stealers (who I hope admit to the fact that Jar Jar Binks-Shoestore is

a pedophile homosexual going to high school proms with a boy) who does not

win another game for three years.

 

Time to move on.

I am so fired up about the Zac Era.

I love the poor press and low expectations.

Absolute perfect sleeper team.

 

BTW... Cleveland is the team most likely to step on their dicks.

Mayfield will be out before midseason and OBJ is a cancerous prima dona.

The perfect storm is forming on Lake Erie.

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21 hours ago, Le Tigre said:

I remember that night like it was yesterday. Even from way up in Section 326, that assassination was clear as a bell. And, then that bastard Gary got up and was dancing! The Bengal linemen were on him like stink on shit...I don't know how it never escalated.

 

The SOB got flagged and tossed...but I never recall anything from the NFL after. 

 

& I think that speaks to why Marv's teams couldn't beat them - this expectation that the NFL would protect our players if we turned the other cheek.  They didn't and won't.  Unfortunately it just encouraged Pittsburgh to push things further, to the point where the only Bengal with the balls to stand up to them was nearly blackballed out of the league & portrayed as some out-of-control psychopath for doing the same shit Pittsburgh is celebrated for by the press.  

 

It will be interesting to see how our new coaches handle them.  This certainly isn't the AFC West.  In fact IDK if there is another NFL team where being cheapshot artists is considered an admirable part of the franchise's culture.  Oakland was long ago, & the Pats defense was very dirty during their Rise to Greatness, though it was never addressed, much less celebrated. 

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Pretty fucked up looking at old b&w photos of their bullshit and knowing they were able to cry & whine the heart of our defense out of the AFCN.

 

Spilled milk, I know, but why wouldn't they pull the same routine the next time one of ours stands up to them?

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  • 3 weeks later...
2 hours ago, BENGALS666 said:

There is no reason why this team shouldn't take Shitbird twice this coming year. 
They could make no bigger statement than owning the div in coach's first season..

 

No reason...really...I can think of a few. The oline is basically the same unit that sucked and same for the defense. 

 

Not to mention the coaching staff has no experience in their roles, Taylor has never been a HC and both coordinators are green as well. 

 

I would be shocked if the Bengals go 8-8 and beat Pitt once this year. 

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