The Crime Of The Tiger

Desperate times call for desperate measures. Usually though, desperate measures don’t make you look like a blazing hypocrite who swore to change the image of his team.

Marvin Lewis has a few issues on his hands. He was brought to the Bengals as a defensive genius. In his time there, he has repeatedly lead a Super Bowl caliber offense but a defense that lost dozens of games for them and relied almost exclusively on ball hawking. It is also difficult to forget the 2006 season where the team had as many incarcerations as they did victories.

This is not a second chance; this is a cry for help.

But now the team with the biggest image problem in the league had an even more serious problem. Their two pro bowl wide receivers are both hurt and they needed a tall fast receiver to accompany their play book. Unfortunately, when someone is down, the demons tend to return. And Marvin Lewis has chosen to bring back Chris Henry, not even a full month after releasing him and insisting that he would never be a part of the Bengal organization again.

This is not a second chance; this is a cry for help. Those who are familiar with my site and my writing know that I am a huge proponent for people getting second chances; but I can say with incredible certainty that if there is even one slip by Henry, Marvin Lewis is going to be out of a job. And at this point in the game, Coach Lewis will be blamed whether he deserves it or not.

Roger Goodell is on a league-wide crack down. He’s even trying to reprimand the behavior of fans in attendance. He is toeing the line of commissioner and dictator more than anyone before him. And you can’t help but get the feeling that his next target is the Bengals organization, a team that for years now has had more legal woes than any other team. If the team, especially now that Henry is back, continues to act out, ownership will most likely can Lewis just to save face.

The sad thing is that this team talent wise is so great that it is almost stunning that this is even happening to them. That is what makes this situation even more unbelievable. There are pro-bowlers all over this offense and there have been for years. Where is the Defense? More importantly, where is the leadership?

We may never know.