Bengals, Marvin Lewis agree to 2-year extension that keeps him through 2014

Lewis will stick around Cincy through at least 2014. (Getty Images)

Unlike the last time Marvin Lewis' contract was running out and both sides seemed content to let him walk away, the Bengals and Lewis have agreed to a two-year extension that will run through the 2014 season.

For Lewis, the team's most successful coach since Sam Wyche, it's a reward for leading the team to two AFC North titles in the past three years.

As CBSSports.com's Jason La Canfora writes, Lewis said negotiating the extension is “a complicated thing” and that he and owner Mike Brown are “comfortable together.”

“Coming off a playoff finish last year, with a solid coaching staff and good young players, continuity at the top gives us our best chance to do well,” Bengals owner Mike Brown said in a statement. “We are excited about the team's prospects and happy to have completed this process with Marvin before the 2012 preseason schedule begins.”

Lewis is in his 10th season in Cincinnati, the third-longest current tenure with one team behind Andy Reid in Philadelphia and Bill Belichick in New England.

“In 2010, Lewis was up front that he was possibly going to explore other options, and it took something of a sales job to keep him,” La Canfora wrote. “With the growth and development of the team since then, all the young pieces and the playoff appearance last year, the backdrop was much different now. The team has also beefed up its scouting staff and infrastructure since 2010, which were keys for the head coach.”

For more NFL news, rumors and analysis, follow @EyeOnNFL on Twitter, and subscribe to our Pick-6 Podcast and NFL newsletter. You can follow Josh Katzowitz on Twitter here: @joshkatzowitz.