Marvin Lewis is now under contract with the Cincinnati Bengals through the 2016 season after receiving a one-year extension that was announced by the team on Wednesday.
Marvin Lewis signs 1-year extension with Bengals
Lewis hasn’t earned a postseason victory in 12 seasons with the Bengals, but he received a contract extension on Wednesday.
Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports
Lewis, 56, is the second-most tenured NFL coach behind only Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots. In 12 seasons as the head coach of the Bengals, the team has tallied a 100-90-2 record in the regular season, making Lewis the winningest coach in franchise history by a significant margin.
In six trips to the playoffs, Lewis has never led a team to a postseason victory, though, including a current streak of four consecutive first-round departures. But the lack of playoff success didn’t deter Bengals president Mike Brown from keeping Lewis around.
Brown expressed optimism in both the team’s future and in Lewis with a statement that read, “The extension reflects our confidence in him and how things look to us as we move forward. We are happy to have reached this agreement.”
After the extension was announced, Lewis also released a statement with his eye on more than just one postseason win:
“I appreciate the commitment by management to the direction of our team. It’s gratifying to our coaching staff and to me personally. The stakes get higher each and every year, and the return of our players this week for the start of offseason work has stoked our fires. I’m excited to continue our pursuit of greatness and to be World Champions.”
Before coming to Cincinnati, Lewis was a defensive coordinator and linebackers coach, including a stop with the Baltimore Ravens where he was defensive coordinator for the team's Super Bowl victory in the 2000 season. The Bengals defense ranked 22nd in the NFL in 2014, snapping a streak of six straight seasons in the upper half of the NFL.
Jim Mora is the only other head coach in NFL history to make it to the postseason six times and never earn a victory.
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