The Bengals and coach Marvin Lewis have agreed on several contract extensions since Lewis was initially hired in 2003, which leaves him entering his 14th season on the Cincinnati sideline this year.
Lewis doesn’t have a contract beyond this year, though, and there doesn’t seem to be much urgency on the part of the team to make sure that changes before the start of the season. Owner Mike Brown was content to say this week that Lewis is now the team’s coach and that they’ll see where things go from there.
“It’s a process. We seem to go through our own dance,” Brown said, via the Cincinnati Enquirer. “But I commend Marvin’s achievements. He’s done remarkably well with our football team here, in recent years especially. I respect him. I like him personally. He’s going to be our coach this year. That’s in the bank. Where it goes, we’ll see how it plays out.”
Lewis is 112-94-2 with the Bengals in the regular season and has won 52 games over the last five seasons as the Bengals have advanced to the postseason each year. Of course, they’ve gone on to lose their first playoff game each time and Lewis is 0-7 in the playoffs overall with the Bengals.
To this point, the regular season success has been enough to keep Lewis in place. The coach has said in the past that he’d “just walk away” if the Bengals won the Super Bowl, but the lack of a contract beyond this year means the exit could come before that happens.
