NEW YORK — Marvin Lewis had much more than game plans to deal with this season.
Lewis won The Associated Press 2009
NFL Coach of the Year award for guiding his team to the playoffs during
a season marked by tragedy.
The Bengals won the AFC North with a
10-6 record, just their second division title since 1990, both under
Lewis. They did so despite the deaths of wide receiver Chris Henry and
Vikki Zimmer, the wife of defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer. Several
players' families also were directly affected by the tsunami in the
Samoan Islands.
For holding his team together under
such circumstances and leading a turnaround from a 4-11-1 record in
2008, Lewis earned 20 1/2 votes Saturday from a nationwide panel of 50
sports writers and broadcasters who cover the league. He beat Sean
Payton of New Orleans (11 1/2), Norv Turner of San Diego (9) and Jim
Caldwell of Indianapolis (7). Andy Reid of Philadelphia and Ken
Whisenhunt of Arizona had a single vote each.
"I'm flattered," said Lewis, whose
seventh season as Bengals coach ended with a 24-14 home loss to the
Jets in the wild-card round. "I never took any credibility to it, that
it could occur, but I am flattered. I would trade it to still be
playing.
"To me, this is more a recognition of
the organization, for the coaching staff and the hard work they've
done, and for the players."
Few coaches have dealt with such a
season of grief. Vikki Zimmer, who used to bake treats for the players,
died unexpectedly in October. Two weeks earlier, defensive linemen
Jonathan Fanene and Domata Peko and rookie linebacker Rey Maualuga
struggled to contact family in American Samoa after the tsunami
devastated the region.
In December, wide receiver Chris
Henry, on injured reserve with a broken left forearm, fell from the
back of a pickup truck after an argument with his fiancee and was
killed.
So Lewis was as much a therapist and psychologist for his team as he was a strategist.
"Just look at that load right there
he's beared," veteran guard Bobbie Williams said. "With Chris, Vikki
Zimmer, the Samoan Islands. … There's been a lot of weight on his
shoulders, and through the not-so-good seasons when it seemed like the
world might have been crashing down, he's been that rock for the team
and for the city. … When you look at it, you're like, 'Dang, that's a
lot, that's a lot.' But you know what? He's still there and he's still
rolling and he's still coach."
And he's Coach of the Year, the first for the Bengals since the team's founder, Paul Brown, won the award in 1970.
"Our coaches did a great job of
helping through those times and being there in support of Mike and his
family, support of the players through the tsunami, and then with
Chris' death and how that affected certain guys," Lewis said. "All that
being said, I think again the credit should come to the entire group
because they did this. I think we had a good group of leadership."
Those team leaders credit Lewis for
changing the environment in Cincinnati. There were far fewer unchecked
egos this season, and the influx of youth worked well.
"Marvin's really gotten better with
gauging our team, and a lot of it is because he knows our individual
players," quarterback Carson Palmer said. "He knows when to back off,
he knows when to put shoulder pads on, he knows when to hold us longer
for meetings, he knows when to get us out of practice earlier. And
that's a head coach's main job, to get his team ready to play on
Sundays."
The Bengals certainly were ready in
the first half of the schedule, going 7-2 and sweeping Pittsburgh and
Baltimore to take command of the division. They faltered down the
stretch, losing three of their final four – all against playoff teams.
But how many teams wouldn't have struggled under all the adversity handled the Bengals?
"He knows real life," Peko said. "He was able to not only be our coach but a father and mentor to some of us."