The Bengals gave coach Marvin Lewis an extension through the 2016 season in April and that led some of Lewis’s detractors to ask how long Lewis will stay in his job without winning a playoff game.
Bengals owner Mike Brown hasn’t answered that question as Lewis tries to improve on his 0-6 postseason record, but he revealed one potential end to his tenure earlier this week. Lewis said that he’ll happily leave the job for someone else if the Bengals take home the Lombardi Trophy.
“I want to hand Mike the trophy, then just walk away,” Lewis said, via the Cincinnati Enquirer.
Lewis has been the Bengals coach for 12 years and isn’t the first coach of a team in the current AFC North to remain in the same job that long without winning a trophy. The first was Chuck Noll, who had the benefit of winning four Super Bowls before embarking on the long stretch that ended with his departure from the Steelers and the NFL. That leaves Lewis in uncharted waters with a team he thinks has the talent to end the drought.
“We’re good enough, but we have to play good enough,” Lewis said.
If they do play good enough, Lewis will ride off into the sunset with a ring that would make a nice capper for the overhaul of the trajectory of the Bengals organization that he’s overseen over the last dozen years. If they don’t, the Bengals could decide that a 14th season would be too many after an unlucky 13 in a row.