There are things you don't expect to live long enough to see. The Berlin Wall dropping, Elvis back in the game, an accurate weather forecast and a Bengals coach who doesn't sound housebroken.

"I have the ability to direct the program, OK?" new coach Marvin Lewis said Friday.

Come again?

"Any decisions being made are because of my direction. I don't know that anybody else sat here before and told you that."

Not unless his name was Paul or Mike.

"I have the ability to shape everything we do," Lewis said.

A glance to the front corner of the room caught Mike Brown upright and not turning green. If this is true - if Lewis' intent isn't undercut by Brown's compulsions - it's more than just good news. It's a miracle. It's like being there when North America broke off from Asia.

It breaks from everything Paul Brown did, and every notion he passed on to his son, Mike. After 12 years, it just might get the Bengals back in the NFL.

Lewis talks with cornerback Artrell Hawkins. (Gary Landers photo) | ZOOM |

Lewis said The Family wants him to take charge. "From sun-up to sundown," he said. Lewis also said he would hire his assistants, who wouldn't scout college games in the fall. "The scope of the coaches' involvement is going to be very pleasing to me" was how he put it.

He stood at the podium, impressive, a handsome man in a custom suit, careful to flash the Super Bowl ring he won two years ago as defensive coordinator of the Baltimore Ravens. Then he square-shouldered his way through 35 minutes of skeptical questions as though he were swatting bugs from a picnic.

"We're going to set some things straight right away about how things are going to be," Mister Lewis said. "We're going to become better professionals."

Maybe Lewis sounded so right because the charisma factor among head coaches around here has been at shoe level. Anyone recommending accountability sends us into spasms of head-nodding joy. Or it could be the guy has presence not seen since Boomer Esiason left the huddle.

The players want forceful leadership, Artrell Hawkins said. "They need it. You don't feel like you're part of the NFL (playing for the Bengals). Guys don't want to go on in this existence anymore."

Marvin Lewis greets Bengal quarterback Jon Kitna and his wife Jennifer. (Gary Landers photo) | ZOOM |

Lewis has arrived at a time when Mike Brown really does want to step away slightly from the details. He wants to see the ship righted for his daughter, Katie, and son-in-law, Troy, so they won't have to endure what he has the last 10 years.

It also could be that Katie Blackburn at some point late in the death throes of 2-14 leaned across the dinner table and said, "Dad, we need to change the way we do things."

Who knows? And really, who cares? What matters is that change seems imminent.

Soon, Lewis will announce a coaching staff that doesn't include the familiar dead wood. Soon after that, he'll announce the addition of scouts. Not as many as he needs. The Family doesn't do sweeping change. It moves glacially. But a noticeable upgrade.

And away they go. If you don't think this is an amazing development, you haven't been here the last 12 years.

"I'm not skeptical," Hawkins said. "That would be succumbing to all the negativity. surrounding this team. I'm forced to believe in that man," Hawkins added, though he didn't mean it that way.

"You have tangible change. You have guys who no longer will say we're the bungling Bengals. We're a part of Marvin Lewis and the rebirth of the Cincinnati Bengals."

We'll see about that. The last 12 years here could make Gandhi a cynic. But it does seem different. The wave of good news is disorienting.

E-mail pdaugherty@enquirer.com

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