As Bengals’ head coach Marvin Lewis enters the final year of his contract, the debate has begun on whether or not the team should renew/extend his contract.

Lewis is entering his eighth season at the reigns. Only four coaches in the NFL have enjoyed a longer stint with their current teams – Jeff Fisher (TEN) – 17 years; Andy Reid (PHI) – 11 years; Bill Belichick (NE) – 11 years; John Fox (CAR) – 9 years.

Through seven seasons as coach Lewis has posted a 56-55-1 mark, won two AFC North championships and only had two losing seasons out of seven. That’s quite an accomplishment considering where the franchise was at before his arrival.

While I favor his return, I’m not sure it will happen. If it were going to happen, why hasn’t it already?

Team owner Mike Brown is as loyal as they come.  You have to look no further than offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski to figure that out. He’s set to begin his 10th season in that position. The next closest offensive coordinator around the league in that tenure is the Jets’ Brian Schottenheimer, who is beginning his fifth year in New York.

If I were a betting man, I would bet against Lewis being the Bengals’ coach in 2011.

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