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Despite a disastrous 2016 that saw Cincinnati fall from the ranks of the NFL's consistently elite teams, Marvin Lewis will return to coach the Bengals next year.

That's according to ... Marvin Lewis, who confirmed reports that he'll keep his job during an interview with Sirius XM.

There had been rumors about Lewis retiring, with some speculation focusing on the possibility of Lewis moving to the front office.

Former Redskins tight end Chris Cooley, now with ESPN 980, reported this week that Lewis would retire in order for the Bengals to hire defensive coordinator Paul Guenther and to keep Guenther from jumping to the Redskins (where his buddy Jay Gruden is the head coach).

But a report from Ed Werder of ESPN this week indicated Lewis would be back.

Lewis' comments obviously confirm that report, with the caveat that Lewis doesn't technically have full control over his future.

Bengals owner Mike Brown could make a decision on Lewis that would change the way he approaches his job. It doesn't seem likely Lewis would make the comments he's making, however, without having talked with his boss.

Lewis' case is a complicated one, because he hasn't won a playoff game in his 13 years with Cincinnati. That's not great. But he also took the worst team in football -- the Bengals were the Browns before the Browns were -- and turned them into a consistent winner.

If he wants one more year to make a run with this current core of players, he probably deserves that opportunity. Cincinnati just has to be careful it doesn't lose any more assistants out the door (Gruden, Mike Zimmer of the Vikings and Hue Jackson of Cleveland already left) and replenishes the weapons around Andy Dalton for the coming season.

Maybe the players will even rally around the idea of Lewis making this a final stretch run for the team.