Marvin Lewis won't take credit, but he played a big role in Bengals' transformation

Marvin Lewis won't pat himself on the back. Every time the question is asked — how much credit should Lewis get for helping the Cincinnati Bengals on a winning path, one that led to Super Bowl LVI? — he chuckles uncomfortably.

"I'm not taking credit for that. That's not my place," Lewis, the Bengals head coach from 2003-18, said in a phone interview. "What they did is about them and their hard work."

Willie Anderson predicted that would be Lewis' reaction. The Bengals' longtime offensive tackle and finalist this year for the Pro Football Hall of Fame said his old coach would be too humble to place himself in the middle of the Bengals' incredible season. Anderson was with the Bengals before Lewis took over in 2003. They were the laughingstock of the NFL before Lewis got there. Anderson then played five seasons under Lewis and knows the work he put in to turn around a losing culture.

"Marvin started the new era of the Bengals," said Anderson, a four-time Pro Bowler with Cincinnati from 1996-2007. "Marvin gets nowhere near the credit he deserves. It's a tragedy Marvin isn't coaching in the NFL."

Lewis also wonders why he's not in the NFL. Part of the reason he hasn't received more credit for turning around the Bengals is they couldn't break through and win a playoff game on his watch.

But he changed the Bengals in ways that aren't necessarily reflected in his record, in ways that impacted the franchise on their way to an AFC championship.

Marvin Lewis hoping for another shot

Lewis, 63, hasn't coached in the NFL since the end of the 2018 season. In the Bengals' first 45 seasons, they made the playoffs seven times. In Lewis' 16 seasons, the Bengals made the playoffs seven times.

Lewis went 0-7 in the postseason, though some bad luck didn't help. Carson Palmer blew out his ACL on the first drive of a playoff loss at the end of the 2005 season. Jeremy Hill fumbled late against the Steelers in another playoff game, and what looked like a sure win turned into a loss.

This will be the fourth coaching cycle in which Lewis won't get a second chance to be an NFL head coach.

"I am disappointed, no question," Lewis said. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed. But I guess that's the way the lord works.

"It is what it is."

Lewis is working for Arizona State as a special adviser to head coach Herman Edwards. It seems someone with his resume — Lewis was a highly successful defensive coordinator before coaching the Bengals, orchestrating the famous 2000 Baltimore Ravens defense — should be in a bigger role somewhere. For now he's working with the Sun Devils, hoping for another shot.

"That's all I can do," Lewis said. "I don't own a team."

Lewis went 131-122-3 for a Bengals franchise that had 11 winning seasons in 45 tries before he got there. It's hard to ignore that Lewis is one of many Black coaches who hasn't gotten a second chance. Many white coaches have rebounded quickly after a first stint that was nowhere near as successful as Lewis' time in Cincinnati. For one example, Vic Fangio had three losing seasons with the Denver Broncos but was interviewed by the Jacksonville Jaguars not long after he was fired. The history for the NFL hiring Black head coaches, in particular ones who are looking for a second opportunity, is disappointing to say the least. Lewis didn't deny it's frustrating.

"The numbers speak for themselves," Lewis said. "It's right there. It's not hard to see there's a disparity."

Lewis will get mentions as the Bengals' unlikely run to the Super Bowl is dissected from all angles. Anderson wanted to make sure Lewis gets his proper due for the franchise's turnaround.

Lewis won't take any credit

Anderson pushes back on the idea that the Bengals, and team owner Mike Brown in particular, are cheap. He says that hasn't been the case in a while. But he also acknowledges things changed dramatically in 2003, Lewis' first season. Everything about the organization shifted.

Anderson said not only did the Bengals start spending more on free agents, something they'd rarely done, but Lewis pushed the organization to improve across the board. The way the team traveled improved. The way they fed players improved. A new, bigger weight room was built. The Bengals started acting like a big-league organization. Anderson said Lewis was the catalyst in changing Brown's ways.

"He brought us up to standard," Anderson said about Lewis.

Lewis has been checking in on the Bengals' postseason run, but jokes that his wife doesn't like him watching too much football. He has good feelings for the players who were drafted when he was coach and the staff that is still with the Bengals from his time there.

"I'm happy for them," Lewis said. "When you don't win all the time, they don't get to reap the rewards of winning. I saw that [Sunday]. Everyone was smiling. That's what's cool. That's what's great."

Lewis had at least a little bit to do with this season's success, even from afar. For the 1990s the Bengals were the punch line of the NFL. Lewis might not have won a playoff game, but he changed how the Bengals operated. He won a lot of games along the way. Lewis points out that Brown and the Bengals allowed Taylor to make his own changes, which led to this postseason run. But Lewis helped lay the foundation, even if he keeps deflecting praise.

"My thing was to suggest we do things differently. Not demand it," Lewis said. "Give credit to Katie [Blackburn, Bengals executive vice president], Troy [Blackburn, Bengals vice president] and Mike [Brown] for taking action and improving things for the players."

Lewis admits things changed when he was there, and that progress happened with him working alongside Brown. That's as close as he'll come to giving himself any credit for the Bengals' current success.

"Hopefully I left it better than I found it," Lewis said.