After the final dirt was thrown onto the coffin carrying the Bengals' postseason hopes, there was plenty of postgame lamenting about a  season that, unfortunately, never got going.

One quote among the many, however, stands out.  From Marvin Lewis...

 “Well it is hard, because I feel like I’ve not found the right buttons to push to get us to where we need to be. I always take credit for that. I’m never going to blame somebody else. It’s my job to figure out why we don’t get it to where it needs to be. We’ve been short.”

It is easy to point the finger in the direction of the head coach when things go the way they have this season for the Bengals, and with Marvin's string of seasons without a playoff victory now officially at 14, any exasperation with him is completely understandable.

But the quote is interesting, and perhaps revealing...

...I’ve not found the right buttons to push to get us to where we need to be."

On the surface, this sounds like Marvin is taking the blame for what's happened this year, which I'm not totally sure he deserves.  The Bengals lost players and coaches from previous playoff teams, had proven players not live up to expectations, and the things done to fill holes haven't worked.  I'm not sure how much of that is directly on Marvin Lewis.

But one more time, read this....

...I’ve not found the right buttons to push to get us to where we need to be."

We talk often, even as outsiders, about coaches who lose the locker room, or messages from coaches who've been around for a while getting stale.  When I read about Marvin's admission that he's "not found the right buttons to push," I can't help but wonder if those things have finally happened.

There has been a staleness to this season since before it began.  Part of that is the natural byproduct of continual postseason failure, capped off by the meltdown against the Steelers last January.  Part of it comes with familiarity, given that despite some roster turnover, the core of the team has remained mostly intact. But a big part of it comes with having a head coach who, for all of his many qualities, has never achieved the kind of breakthrough most of us have been waiting a couple of decades for, and who, quite frankly, doesn't inspire much confidence that he'll ever get this franchise over the hump.

I believe that Marvin Lewis is a quality football coach, I believe that some fans will never fully appreciate the work he's done here, and if - as expected - he returns to the Bengals in 2017, I hope he finds the right formula to turn things around. But I can't help but wonder if the staleness that has come to define the 2016 Bengals is a direct reflection of the messages from, and the methods of, the head coach growing stagnant.

I wonder if Marvin himself has finally come to realize that that's the case.

If so, it's finally time for the Bengals to bring in a new coach, and a fresh voice.