Here's hoping Gregg Williams is as good a coach as the Buffalo Bills think he is.

Same for Butch Davis in Cleveland. He'd better be downright sensational.

The reason: Neither one of them is Marvin Lewis, and the rumor mill doesn't like to be deceived.

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And yet the rumor mill has never been held in less regard. Marty Schottenheimer came from the ether to get the Washington job. Dick Vermeil's comeback in Kansas City was utterly inconceivable until Carl Peterson conceived it. ”

Lewis, you see, is still the defensive coordinator of the Baltimore Ravens, which is amazing when you remember what he built and how he built it. There weren't five people in America who care about the NFL who didn't think that Lewis would end up with a head coaching job, since there were six openings when the playoffs began, and still two as of Monday.

Now there are none, if in fact the Bills are going to hire Williams, and Lewis is ballin' the jack for Art Modell, just like he was before the Super Bowl.

The rumor mill is, of course, outraged. Lewis was as good as hired in Buffalo, and there were some who thought the Browns, Houston Texans and/or Detroit Lions could have afforded to hold their water until Lewis' duties were completed.

But nobody did. Houston and Detroit hired Dom Capers and Marty Mornhinweg before the Super Bowl was played, Davis went the day after, and Williams apparently got his gig on Thursday. Whatever Marvin Lewis was doing this week, it wasn't interviewing.

Thus, questions will again be raised about the NFL's commitment to African-American coaches, particularly since no less a man of principle than Shannon Sharpe said he would retire if Lewis didn't get a head coaching job.

Questions, though, will also be raised about the rumor mill's performance these past few weeks. We have already covered Jon Gruden's phantom flight from Oakland to Columbus, a trip so secret that it was even news to Gruden.

But Gruden was just an air ball in the dark. Marvin Lewis was something else. He was a mortal lock. He built a defense of massive heft and throw-weight. He has a Super Bowl ring. He is bright, articulate, and the hot name in the rumor mill.

And yet the rumor mill has never been held in less regard. Marty Schottenheimer came from the ether to get the Washington job. Dick Vermeil's comeback in Kansas City was utterly inconceivable until Carl Peterson conceived it.

Oh, and by the way, Gregg Williams was last year's hot name, and he got passed over without a moment's thought.

Thus, Marvin Lewis' worst trait as a potential head coach seems to have been that the rumor mill thought he was the obvious choice.

True, because of NFL rules, he wasn't able to interview anywhere until he had finally solved the three-piece puzzle that was the New York Giants' offense. On the other hand, there is no NFL rule that says the Browns had to convince Butch Davis to go back on his word for three times the money, or that they had to announce it so soon after the Super Bowl.

Of course, the reason why Marvin Lewis is still a Raven is open to whatever speculation a speculator wants to speculate. Youth ... race ... timing ... bowling scores ... pick a reason, any reason.

The point here is that in this high-tech information-crazed era when you need to know yesterday what's going to happen tomorrow, the rumor mill is even less reliable than ever.

I mean, if the rumor mill can't get Marvin Lewis a job after the year he has, what good is it?

Frankly, we don't have an answer to that one, except maybe "not much use at all." But according to NFL sources who spoke on the promise of anonymity to Chris Mortensen, they'll look into it.

In the meantime, here's to Gregg Williams and Butch Davis. Good luck, gents. You're gonna need it, and that's no rumor.

Ray Ratto of the San Francisco Chronicle is a frequent contributor to ESPN.com.