CINCINNATI -- If you thought Mike Brown legitimately had debated in January whether or not to fire Marvin Lewis after yet another Cincinnati Bengals playoff loss, then you need to get to know Brown a little better.

On Tuesday, at the Bengals' annual pre-training camp media luncheon, the soon-to-be 81-year-old owner gave slightly greater insight into his view on hiring and firing coaches. As it pertains to his own team's situation, Brown's central philosophy on the topic is this: getting to the playoffs is hard.

By now, you're probably well familiar with the central storyline swirling around Lewis, the Bengals' 14-year head coach who also is the franchise's winningest. But despite his commendable regular season success (112-94-2), he still hasn't won a playoff game, going 0-7 in Cincinnati, including notching wild-card round losses in each of the past five postseasons.

Bengals owner Mike Brown, left, and coach Marvin Lewis have developed a tight working relationship over the last 14 years. AP Photo/Al Behrman

Brown doesn't believe coaches should be fired for simply failing to win in the playoffs.

"If coaches were hired and fired on that account," he said, "the NFL would have a turnover rate about three times what it has now."

This past offseason, seven teams hired new head coaches. The year before, six did. In the five offseasons since the Bengals began their unprecedented run of five straight playoff appearances, 23 teams have changed head coaches.

It would appear that as long as the Bengals make it back to the playoffs for a sixth straight year, they won't be adding to that list next offseason.

"Yes, we want to win a playoff game. We want to win the Super Bowl, " Brown said. "So do a lot of other teams, most of which have not gotten as far as we've gotten."

Remember, Brown often cautions, it wasn't so long ago that the Bengals weren't a yearly contender. During the 12 seasons before Lewis became their head coach the Bengals couldn't amass a winning record and were routinely finishing near the bottom of their division. Since his arrival, the organization has posted six double-digit win regular seasons, and earned four AFC North titles.

Earlier this offseason, Brown signed Lewis to a one-year contract extension that will keep him in command of the Bengals through the 2017 season. It marked the third consecutive offseason in which Brown renewed Lewis on a one-year deal.

"We know each other. We know each other's foibles," Brown said. "We've been around together for 14 years now. And when he does something that I don't like, or I do something that he doesn't like, we accept it because we both know there's going to be a tomorrow. And there's the good side: we've got a lot of happy moments together, and that tends to bond us, as well.

"I don't know that we're altogether different. We see a lot of things the same way. I am the immovable object, and he is the, what do you call the other one? The irresistible force."