Marvin Lewis addresses the future

The same question circled the subdued Bengals locker room. As players quietly dressed, gathered their belongings and shuffled off to the busses for the fourth straight year digesting a one-and-done playoff disappointment, there was no avoiding the obvious.

What has to change to put this team over the postseason hump? At this point, in the immediate wake of 26-10, nobody had answers.

"I don't know, I really don't," wide receiver Mohamed Sanu said. "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."

In the Marvin Lewis era, the results haven't changed, however, and now the head coach's futility reaches historic levels.

Now moving to six losses in six playoff games, Lewis joins Jim Mora Sr., as the only other coach in NFL history to lose his first six postseason appearances. Mora never saw a seventh.

Lewis also ties Mora and Marty Schottenheimer for the NFL record since the merger for most consecutive playoff losses. He also joins Steve Owen of the New York Giants for most consecutive playoff losses with one team.

The Bengals are now the only team in NFL history to lose in the first round of the playoffs four years in a row.

Lewis serves as the common thread to the futility. He's under contract through the 2015 season and considering the ultra-conservative nature of owner Mike Brown those calling for Lewis' firing are likely screaming down a well.

As for Lewis, when asked if he expected to be back, was brief before moving on to discussing his team.

"It's my plan," Lewis said. "It's not about me. It's about our football team, wherever our football team is."

Right now, they are at a loss for words in regards to these four straight playoff punishments. Most fingers pointed inward as Jeremy Hill blamed himself for not breaking enough tackles, Andy Dalton accepted the need to do more and George Iloka regretted allowing two long completions, including a touchdown. Iloka also came to the defense of his head coach when asked if Lewis should be back.

"I don't see why not," Iloka said. "He's been here since I've been here. He's done a good job. That loss ain't on him. That's on us. I feel like they had us pretty prepared. We were real confident going in. We were in the game into the fourth quarter. He ain't out there playing. Xs and Os are only going to take you so far it's about the Joes out there. We have to put some of that on us. He wasn't out there when I gave up that touchdown catch."





The Bengals are one of four teams to make the playoffs each of the last four seasons. Denver, Green Bay and New England are the others. They've all reached the Super Bowl during their streaks while the Bengals sat and watched divisional weekend.

A belief exists the core of the team and leadership are good enough to push the Bengals over the playoff hurdle even moments after being denied once more.

"I think anyone who's around this locker room knows that its tremendous," Andrew Whitworth said. "The group of guys, the way they work and all those things is tremendous. I think that there's nothing wrong with the character of this football team. In the big moments, our guys that are the big guys have to make the plays. You see it every week. If you look at the teams that win, their top guys make the plays to get them where they've got to go. It'll be no different here. When we get in big situations, our big players have to make huge plays."

This latest instance came with built in excuses as A.J. Green, Jermaine Gresham, Tyler Eifert, and Marvin Jones watched from afar as Rex Burkhead and Cobi Hamilton ran routes. Those excuses hold water, but are just the latest reason Lewis' record moves to 0-6.

The frustration for this group doesn't just stem from the losses, but being mostly non-competitive in them. They scored a total of 43 points in the last four losses been outscored by 60.

"I wish I knew (how to change it)," said Robert Geathers, the only Bengals player to be part of all six losses. "We would have had it done by now. Just comes down to, I don't know, I think everyone in the locker room wants it. The coaches prepare us well. I don't know if its mental or what we just have to find a way to get over the hump. If it was that easy to figure out what it was we would have had it done."

In the end, players shouldn't need to know how to fix the playoff failures. Figuring out what needs to be done differently to win in the postseason falls into the job description of Lewis. He's paid handsomely to do so. His success in answering that question speaks for itself.

"The only way to do it is just at some point whoever it is, wherever it be, whatever it'll be they'll go back to work and put their heads down and work to kick the door down," Lewis said. "That's all you can do and there's no other words about it."