Comparing the first 5.5 years of the Zac Taylor and Marvin Lewis era for the Bengals

The Cincinnati Bengals host the Las Vegas Raiders this week, marking the return of former head coach Marvin Lewis, who is now an assistant in Vegas.

So we decided now would be a good time to compare Lewis' early tenure with the Bengals to that of current head coach Zac Taylor.

Let's take a look, shall we?

Marvin Lewis was hired as the Bengals' head coach in 2003. We're not going to look at his entire tenure, just the first five and a half years, and that's where we are now with Zac Taylor.

Here's a graph of Lewis' wins in his first 5.5 seasons:

And Taylor's victories:

At both times, the team went through a complete rebuild, as one would expect when hiring a new head coach. In the early years of the Lewis era, the team broke away from its humble 90s, and in the early years of the Taylor era, it rebuilt itself after the Dalton-led teams fell apart.

Lewis gave Carson Palmer the No. 1 overall pick and Taylor again gave Joe Burrow the No. 1 overall pick.

Both coached the soon-to-be-replaced quarterback in his first year with the franchise. Lewis started with Jon Kitna and Taylor had Dalton and countless subs. Both have struggled with injury issues to their quarterback, with Burrow's injuries being more frequent and severe, and both boasting rosters full of wide receiver talent.

Lewis was a defensive coach while Taylor had an offensive mind. Yet despite Lewis' defensive prowess, both regimes enjoyed some of the most potent offenses in franchise history.

Let's take a look at a few different metrics to see how the first 5.5 years of the Lewis era compare to what we've seen so far from the Taylor era.

attack

Comparable, right? Each team's first year was led by their former quarterback (Kitna/Dalton), and the rest of the time the No. 1 overall pick was (somehow) under center.

It's hard to compare offenses from two completely different eras of NFL football, but the teams were constructed similarly roster-wise. The star-studded 2005 offense featured Chad Johnson, TJ Houshmandzadeh and Chris Henry.

The 2021 Bengals had Ja'Marr Chase, Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd. The main difference between the two offenses is that Palmer and Burrow are very different. Palmer was immobile but had a cannon for an arm. Burrow is a much more intellectual quarterback and much more mobile than Palmer. He lacks arm strength but is more precise.

Under Bob Bratkowski, the Bengals ran a downfield passing offense, with Palmer and his concrete feet under center featuring plenty of deep routes, play-actions, and multiple receiver sets. Burrow's offense is more similar to the spread concept. He primarily plays shotgun as the offense relies on rhythm and allows routes at multiple depths to keep the quarterback's options open.

We also have to keep in mind that Burrow was unavailable during large portions of his first few years in the NFL and missed large portions of his rookie season and the final third of 2024.

Average point difference for Lewis: 18.7
Average point differential for Taylor: 19.6

Edge: Zac Taylor

defense

Here too, the crimes are different now. Modern rules protect quarterbacks and wide receivers more than ever before, and while the Palmer era wasn't the lawless '70s or '80s, it was much harsher.

However, it's no surprise that Lewis has a better overall defense considering the hard work he put in as defensive coordinator. It seems like Taylor has always focused much more on offense and left defense to Lou Anarumo. It also shouldn't be shocking at all that the Bengals' most successful years of the Taylor era coincided with their best years on defense.

Edge: Marvin Lewis

culture

Lewis entered one of the NFL's most toxic cultures. The Bengals, freed from a decade of embarrassment, brought in Lewis and with him began an unprecedented (at the time) era of success. No, they didn't win a playoff game in his 16-year tenure, but he did make the playoffs in seven seasons.

The Bengals also had a reputation, particularly in the early Lewis years, for having players on the team who frequently clashed with police off the field or played recklessly on the field. Taylor's teams seem to avoid this by recruiting guys who they believe won't cause problems in the locker room.

Taylor was fortunate to begin building on the foundation Lewis laid in Cincinnati. There have been many changes. There was more spending in free agency than in previous years (even though the salary cap was raised), and fans received a ring of honor and more engagement than in the Lewis era.

However, this is difficult to assess objectively, considering that the perspective comes from outside.

Edge: Zac Taylor

Development

Taylor doesn't have the sample size that Lewis has over his entire career, so again we're just looking from 2003 through the first eight games of the 2008 season. During that same 5.5 year period, a player selected by Lewis' staff was named to the Pro Bowl. That was Palmer.

However, there were other players such as Andrew Whitworth, Eric Steinbach, Johnathan Joseph and Leon Hall who played at a high level during the 2003-2008 period. Over the course of his career, Whitworth developed into a Hall of Fame-level left tackle.

During Taylor's time in Cincinnati, Burrow and Chase were the only two players named to the Pro Bowl by the team's current coach, although players such as Logan Wilson, Germaine Pratt and Tee Higgins have played at a high level.

Of course, Lewis had a lot more in his 16 seasons, and I'm sure Taylor will have a lot more. But for the first 5.5 years of his tenure, Lewis is pretty even with Taylor.

Edge: Even

Big game record

We all know where this is leading. Lewis' Bengals were notorious for choking in big games. They did it in games that could have gotten them into the playoffs, and they did it every time they got into the playoffs. Lewis was 0-7 in the playoffs before Mike Brown pulled the plug. But it's even worse. Lewis had a 3-6 record in primetime games in the first 5.5 years of his time with the Bengals, and that includes the home playoff loss in 2005.

Taylor's Bengals, on the other hand, fared much better in the stadium or on the national stage. Including all playoff games, Taylor's Bengals are 12-7 in prime time. The only anomaly here was the game canceled in 2022 against the Bills due to Damar Hamlin's freak injury.

Edge: Zac Taylor

Division record

Winning in the NFL isn't easy, and winning in the AFC North is even harder. The AFC North has long been considered one of the toughest divisions in the league, boasting legendary franchises and some of the best players to ever take the field.

Lewis went 17-17 over his first five and a half seasons with the Bengals, including the 2005 playoff loss to the Steelers. Taylor struggled when playing against divisional opponents. He is 11-21, including a win over the Ravens in the playoffs. One is bad and the other costs .500, which won't be successful either.

However, considering the Steelers had a young Ben Roethlisberger in the early 2000s and the Ravens had one of the best defenses of all time, this one goes to Taylor's predecessor.

Edge: Marvin Lewis

Diploma

It's difficult to compare the two teams. Lewis' Bengals faced Steelers and Ravens teams full of Hall of Fame players on both sides of the ball. He still had more success than failure, and of course, after the 2010 season, he enjoyed a period of unprecedented success for this franchise, even if it didn't result in any postseason wins.

Taylor's tenure saw fewer overall wins but far more playoff success. Because of Burrow's injuries in recent years, he often worked with less than a full deck, but he still had more ups than downs.

This season is truly the first year that Bengals fans are looking at Taylor's Bengals and demanding answers. Burrow's first year ended with a brutal injury. The team reached the Super Bowl and then the AFC Championship Games the next two seasons, and then Burrow was hampered by a lower leg injury in the first few games of last season before being sidelined for the season this time due to another injury to his throwing wrist .

In 2024, there is no such excuse for their slow start. They didn't do what they needed to do in the offseason, the defense played very poorly against good offenses, and when the defense showed up, the offense wasn't up to par.

Bengals fans called for Lewis' firing long before he and the team parted ways after the 2019 season, and fans are once again demanding ownership for the head coach's firing. Considering Taylor's success in the postseason, it's unlikely they'll move on from him now, especially after giving Lewis 16 years.

It's difficult to compare the two teams. The opponent was different, the rules were different and the most important players, the quarterbacks, on both teams were drastically different. However, considering Taylor's success, I'd say that's what matters most, especially his playoff record and how many injuries his star quarterback has dealt with Taylor is ahead.

However, there is more than one way to skin a cat, and there are many more standards that I haven't even thought of to compare the two.

In this week's Bengals Reacts poll, we asked fans whether they think Lewis or Taylor is the better coach. 65% of fans who voted gave Lewis the edge.

Who do you think was better in the first 5.5 years as head coach of the Bengals? Let us know in the comments section!