Marvin Lewis returns as Cincinnati Bengals’ head coach through 2019

Not so fast.

Despite rampant speculation – and even some expectation – that Marvin Lewis had tired of coaching the Cincinnati Bengals and was ready to move on, the organization and the 59-year-old head coach agreed to continue their partnership through the 2019 season.

Next year will be his 16th on the sidelines at Paul Brown Stadium, and he remains the second-longest tenured head coach in the league behind New England’s Bill Belichick.

In a statement released by the club, Bengals owner and president Mike Brown said "Marvin Lewis has been an important member of the Cincinnati community and the Bengals family for the past 15 years, and we are happy to have reached this agreement. Marvin has made significant contributions during his time here. While recently we have fallen short of our expectations, we have full confidence in Marvin to re-establish winning football in 2018.”

Assistant coaches and some players were in the building Tuesday and no word about a decision had filtered out by the time the building seemed to clear out just before 5 p.m.

“My family and I are very grateful for the opportunity to stay in Cincinnati and continue my career with the Bengals,” Lewis said in a statement. “My job is to win a world championship. We have a talented roster full of veteran leaders and emerging young stars, and I am committed to making the necessary improvements to put this team in the best position to win.”

The front office, coaches and players were rocked by an ESPN report just before kickoff on Dec. 17 that Lewis had made up his mind to leave, but Lewis has consistently denied that information came from him.

Lewis’ agent, Phil de Picciotto told The Enquirer in December “that came from Adam Schefter, not from us.”

Despite the denials, Schefter and ESPN never backtracked from the report that cited anonymous league sources. By Dec. 31, however, ESPN softened by saying Lewis was "leaning" towards an exit.

For his part, Lewis’ message has been consistent to owner and president Mike Brown, executive vice president Katie Blackburn and vice president Troy Blackburn and on through the organization. The Enquirer reported many in the organization didn’t necessarily believe those denials – but some veterans and coaches hoped Lewis would return.

"I think he's the right coach for this team," wide receiver Brandon LaFell said. "Everybody's trying to blame stuff on coach Lewis but us as players, we should have made more plays this year and we didn't do that. It has nothing to do with coach Lewis. He put is in a great situation to win every game. Us, as players, we didn't make enough plays."

The 2017 season marked the second straight losing campaign after five straight playoff appearances, but Lewis has always maintained he wanted to coach in 2018. Clearly, the front office determined there was enough progress from the young talent that Lewis should lead a third reboot of the franchise under his watch.

"We're starting to play. He got us playing. He got us playing good," Bengals cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick said. "But at the end of the day, that's our responsibility to win games. That's not his responsibility. It's our responsibility to win games. He's my dog. I'm emotionally attached to him. I can't see myself, right now, with another coach."

Lewis does have the most regular-season victories and playoff appearances in franchise history. With two straight victories to end 2017 Lewis has 125 regular season wins, which is tied for most in NFL history without a playoff victory. Former Indianapolis and New Orleans head coach Jim Mora retired with 125 victories and an 0-6 mark in the postseason.

Ownership had a list of candidates to interview should the two sides parted ways, including coordinators Paul Guenther, Bill Lazor and Darrin Simmons. With Lewis back, it is expected that Guenther will move elsewhere and the Bengals will need to find a new defensive coordinator.

Simmons has been with Lewis his entire time in Cincinnati and Lazor just finished 14 games as offensive coordinator after being hired as the quarterbacks coach in 2016.

The Enquirer learned from multiple team sources that in their discussions about a return, Lewis and ownership had serious talks about the makeup of his staff. With every assistant’s contract up, Lewis may now have an opportunity to reshape his staff entirely.

Since 2015, the team has lost Hue Jackson, Vance Joseph, Matt Burke, Mark Carrier and Jay Hayes. Lazor, Jim Haslett, Jacob Burney and Kevin Coyle joined the team in the 2016 offseason.