The Cincinnati Bengals are on the verge of a third straight losing season, but one player is adamant that it is not head coach Marvin Lewis’ fault.
Speaking with reporters on Thursday, Bengals cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick came out in defense of Lewis amid the team’s division-worst 6-8 record.
“Marv ain’t going anywhere,” said Kirkpatrick, per Katherine Terrell of ESPN. “How? We’re down. We’re hurt. It’s not his fault. As players, we’ve got to take full responsibility for it and quit letting it run off to the coaches.
“I’m not about to put nothing on that man,” he added about Lewis, who now also serves as the team’s defensive coordinator. “I feel like he’s coaching his heart out. He’s trying to do everything he can to get wins around here, and as players, that’s what we’ve got to do. We’ve got to execute for him.”
Lewis has been the head coach of the Bengals since 2003 but is notorious for his postseason shortcomings, failing to record even a single playoff win in seven total appearances over the years. The team has not made it back there since 2015 however and will not be doing so this season.
After signing an extension last offseason, Lewis will now have a team option for the 2019 season. Cincinnati’s performance this year hasn’t exactly inspired much confidence (with one potential replacement already being floated). Still, it sounds like Lewis has enough support from the locker room to at least make the decision an interesting one.
