Marvin Lewis Wants Bengals Extension

Marvin Lewis will enter his 15th season as head coach of the Bengals and would prefer to work out an extension to keep the window open for future years. The longtime Cincinnati leader is entering a contract year but wants to extend his coaching window in southwest Ohio beyond 2017 and continue to pursue the franchise’s first championship.

We’d like to agree to something at some point,” Lewis said, via Jim Owczarski of the Cincinnati Enquirer, regarding an interest in receiving an extension. “It puts, I think, everybody’s mind at ease going forward for their futures. A lot of the people in the building, it makes it easier on them.”

The 58-year-old coach resided in the same position last offseason but ended up avoiding lame-duck status by inking an extension in April. The last coming out of Cincinnati on this topic was not centered on an extension for the league’s second-longest-tenured coach, but Lewis appears to be pointing to the security for his staff with the desire to sign for at least one more season. Owczarski notes Lewis and Mike Brown continue to work on the coach’s deal.

The Bengals are coming off one of the most disappointing seasons in franchise history, but Brown elected to stay the course with Lewis. His teams qualified for the playoffs from 2011-15 and have done so on six occasions in the past eight years, but the the veteran-fueled Bengals slunk to 6-9-1 in 2016.

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