Nobody coached more games against Mike Tomlin and John Harbaugh than Marvin Lewis. The Bengals' longest-serving head coach has made sure he reached out to both.
The Ravens let Harbaugh go after 18 seasons. On Tuesday, Tomlin left the Steelers after 19 seasons. On Wednesday, Lewis reflected on the toughest, tightest, and most memorable games he ever had in his 16 seasons coaching in Cincinnati in the NFL's version of demolition derby.
The AFC North.
"I was fortunate to be here going against them," said Lewis after talking to Harbaugh and exchanging texts with Tomlin. "It's a sad day because I feel badly for them. They have done so well for so long."
By the time the Steelers hired Tomlin in 2007, Lewis was in his fifth season before he opened 2008 in Harbaugh's debut on fellow Miami University alum Paul Brown's 100th birthday. When Lewis left in 2018, the Bengals had been to six post-season berths in that stretch, the Ravens seven, and the Steelers eight in the Rock-em-Sock-em North.
The rookie Harbaugh won the first of 22 meetings, and then Lewis went 12-9 against him after that Joe Flacco opener. Nine of those grind jobs were decided by six or fewer points. Lewis opposed Tomlin 25 times, including the playoff game he had him beat with backup quarterback AJ McCarron if not for a fumble with 83 seconds left.
"People thought I stayed in one place for a long time and they both exceeded it," said Lewis, his last game another tight loss to Tomlin, 16-13, with another backup quarterback (Jeff Driskel) on a field goal with less than two minutes left.
When Lewis left the Bengals after that game in 2018, he was the longest-tenured African-American head coach in any sport. Tomlin leaves the Steelers with the same title.
Lewis only got him five times, but the series had drama good enough to binge. Five losses were to Ben Roethlisberger fourth-quarter comebacks. A dozen games were decided by seven points or fewer. Along the way, the Bengals swept the defending Super Bowl champion Steelers (remember the War of 18-12?), qualified for the playoffs and eliminated the Steelers on the same kick, and caught the Steelers during a wild fourth quarter in Pittsburgh to become the first AFC North team start a season 7-0.
"I only remember the ones we got by a field goal at the end," Lewis said.
But if anyone knows why Tomlin stayed so long in Pittsburgh and Harbaugh in Baltimore, it is Lewis.
He broke into the league as the Steelers linebackers coach in the '90s, when Dan Rooney owned the team before passing it on to son Art. During his last years in Baltimore, Lewis was there during the transition when Steve Bisciotti took ownership from Art Modell. The same dynamic was at work with the Brown and Blackburn families in Cincinnati.
"I think they respect the job coaches do. They understand. They're in the trenches with the coaches," Lewis said. "They're in those battles with them. They understand the time and the energy and the effort. They respect that.
"And they know that every time you make a change, there are a lot of ramifications. Through the squad. Through the building. The choosing of players. What kind of players? There are going to be some guys lost in the shuffle. Players most importantly. They don't fit into a new scheme, a new this, a new that. That can mean wasted resources. Draft picks and free agents are valuable when you spend the cap allocation for those guys … Just the respect for how things are done. The stability at the top makes it much easier for the coach and GM. Everybody knows they have to work together."
Lewis admired Tomlin's handling of players, and there were those occasional league meetings where they would talk about the management of it all. That was a Marvinism, too.
"He's dealt with a lot of personalities, and he's been able to keep them in check until they've run their course," Lewis said. "No one ever knows until they're out of the building what he was dealing with. Once they were no longer on his squad, and they went to the next place, all that came out."
Meanwhile, Lewis admired Harbaugh's handling of players in the Ravens system.
"His approach on getting the team prepared. How hard they played," Lewis said. "Every year they lost guys in free agency, but they were always able to re-load with him able to get the best out of the new guys coming in. They would draft and develop, and they would pluck a guy off because you can't have the highest-paid guy at every position. They would get the guy, plug him in, and be ready to go."
What can you say after all those games, 47 of them in all? Where most of the time it was all on the line?
"I just said I've respected all you've done over the years and best of luck at whatever is next," said Lewis, who said it the only way you can in their AFC North that is no more.
