FanHouse TimLewis

In 2005, the Bengals won 11 regular season games and were division champions. It was Marvin Lewis' third year in Cincinnati, and it looked like he had accomplished the impossible: saving this franchise from itself.

And then Kim von Oelhoffen happened. The Bengals would blow a 10-point lead to the Steelers in the wild-card round, and never really regain their bearings. They've averaged just over six wins a season since that playoff appearance, and Carson Palmer battled back from a serious knee injury three years ago only to suffer a serious elbow injury in September.

Last year, Steve Spagnuolo was the Philadelphia Eagles linebackers coach. The Giants had just canned Tim Lewis as their defensive coordinator and were looking for a change (preferably one that involved improving the defense).

When Spagnuolo got the New York job, Giants fans were underwhelmed, and Eagles fans were excited that coach of one of the defense's weakest links was taking over the entire operation for a division rival.

A year later, New York's front office looks pretty smart. So smart, in fact, that Spagnuolo might not be back with the Giants in 2008.

The Falcons, still without a head coach, remain interested in Spagnuolo. The Giants and Spagnuolo last week agreed that the time was not right for him to interview with the Falcons during preparation for the playoffs.

When the Giants' season ends, Spagnuolo will be free to travel to Atlanta to speak with the Falcons. Reports also have surfaced that the Redskins have targeted Spagnuolo to replace Joe Gibbs as the head coach in Washington.

Who knows what's going on in Washington -- every day we hear something different -- but the Atlanta job seems more like a possibility. And although that organization is in shambles, they could finally be turning things around.

It looks the Broncos could pull a "Cam Cameron" on on first-year defensive coordinator Jim Bates. Bates had success at previous stops in Miami and Green Bay before coming to Denver 51 weeks ago, but this year has been a disaster. As the Rocky Mountain News' Dave Krieger notes, here's what head coach Mike Shanahan said when Bates was hired:

"There's no way if we had (gone) to the playoffs that those guys would be here because they had so many other opportunities," he said of Bates and defensive line coach Bill Johnson.

So in a way, it's Shanahan's fault -- both directly and indirectly -- that Bates was brought on. If he had stuck with Jake Plummer, the Broncos almost certainly would've made it to the postseason, and some other team would've snatched Bates up before Shanny got the chance.

Instead, Plummer was benched, Cutler took over, the Broncos missed the playoffs and here we are.

From the beginning, Bates' seven-in- the-box base scheme didn't work here. In fact, during the preseason, Cleveland Browns broadcaster Bernie Kosar wondered aloud why a team with cornerbacks like Champ Bailey and Dre Bly wouldn't take advantage of their man coverage ability by moving a safety into the box to help against the run.

Look, when Bernie Kosar can game-plan you from the press box, you're probably not doing something right. Who knows how this ends up, but the Broncos might want to make sure they have a go-to guy if they can Bates. I mean, when this dude is back in the mix, it's definitely a sellers market.

The Bengals had to wait until 2008 to do something right when they fired defensive coordinator Chuck Bresnahan yesterday. It was long overdue.

However, they may not make an improvement if they are indeed targeting Panthers' secondary coach TIm Lewis:

Speculation for a replacement centers on former Steelers and Giants defensive coordinator Tim Lewis. He spent the 2007 season as secondary coach for the Carolina Panthers.

Tim Lewis joined the Steelers staff in 1995 when Marvin Lewis was Steelers linebackers coach. Tim Lewis has seven years of experience in the NFL as a coordinator.

Now, if this was 2006, you really wouldn't fault Cincinnati for going this way. Lewis was a hot head coaching candidate back then. However, his rep has taken a pounding in his final year as the New York Giants defensive coordinator (he was fired after the 2006 season) and he isn't too highly thought of as the Carolina Panthers' secondary coach this past season. If this was the Lewis of old ... this is big news. However, it is the Lewis of one of the poorer secondaries of the past year.

Tim Lewis made his name as a secondary coach and defensive coordinator with the Steelers from 1995-2003. In 1995, current Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis was the linebackers coach for the Steelers before moving on to the Baltimore Ravens the next year. The defensive coordinator for Pittsburgh in 1995 was Dick LeBeau ... who would become the Bengals head coach two years later.

LeBeau was later fired and Marvin Lewis got the Bengals gig.