Cincinnati Bengals owner Mike Brown is growing impatient with head coach Marvin Lewis, according to a report from Jason Cole of Bleacher Report and Yahoo, citing multiple sources "in and around" the Bengals.
Cole said Brown was a huge backer of Lewis (now in the final year of his contract), who brought the team from one of the worst franchises in professional sports to a perennial contender in one of the toughest divisions in the NFL. Lewis has rebuilt the team several times - each time for the better - and the Bengals have been regulars in the playoffs this decade.
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But Lewis' record of 0-7 in the postseason is growing weary on Brown, who Cole said believes the team is as good as any in the history of the franchise and is on par with the Bengals Super Bowl teams during the 1980s. Brown believes the team should be performing at that level and it hasn't. The Bengals lost to the Steelers in January in the AFC wildcard game, when two personal fouls setup a chipshot field goal for Pittsburgh to win the game.
Lewis took over the Bengals in 2003 and is the longest tenured coach in team history.