The Bengals lost their postseason opener for the fourth straight year on Sunday, a development that left wide receiver Mohamed Sanu feeling that something has to change for the Bengals to avoid a continuation of their real-life Groundhog Day.
“I don’t know, I really don’t,” Sanu said, via the Cincinnati Enquirer. “We are just going to have to see. It’s just frustrating and embarrassing. It’s tiring having this feeling, the same talk, the same situation over and over. Something’s got to change.”
One change that will be suggested inside and outside Cincinnati is the departure of coach Marvin Lewis, who became the second NFL coach to lose his first six postseason games on Sunday. The other coach to do it was Jim Mora and he never got a chance to coach a seventh playoff game, but Lewis, whose contract runs through next season, is moving forward with plans on being on the Bengals sideline.
“It’s my plan. It’s not about me. I’m talking about our football team, wherever our football team is,” Lewis said during his postgame press conference. “Obviously every year you create a new football team and that’s part of it unfortunately. Tomorrow is not promised for anyone and so that’s part of the life in the NFL and what these guys have in the finality of losing when you lose in the playoffs.”
It’s not easy to get to the playoffs on an annual basis, something that counts in Lewis’s favor when evaluating what he’s done with the Bengals. With his ability to do that well established, the Bengals will have to decide how many more chances he gets to lead the team off the treadmill.