Lewis is the second-longest tenured coach in the NFL

There's something to be said for longevity in the NFL, but there's also something to be said for head coaches staying more than 10 years on the job.

Namely, don't.

Bill Walsh once proclaimed it a no can-do. So did Bill Polian. But Marvin Lewis, head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals, believes he's proof they're wrong ... and he might be on to something.

In his 11th season with the Bengals, Lewis is the second-longest tenured coach in the NFL, next to Bill Belichick. More important, like Belichick, he isn't slowing down. He gets up earlier than he did 10 years ago, rising at 4:30 a.m. Wednesday to push off for this week's minicamp, and he's more successful than he was 10 years ago -- with the Bengals reaching the playoffs three of the past four years, including the past two.

So the obvious question: After all these years in one place, where does the push come from?

"You sign on to do a certain thing, and that's to win a championship," he said, "and we haven't done that."

Not only that; they haven't won a playoff game, period. In fact, nobody with the Bengals has since Sam Wyche coached the team in the 1990 playoffs.

"That's right," Lewis said. "But that's my point. Maybe I'm fortunate enough to win a Super Bowl this year in New York, and I walk away. That's literally how I feel about it because when it's not that important to me anymore I'm in somebody's way.

"If it's not that important to drive me every day to be better, I'm not the right person for the job. I'm letting people down. Everybody's counting on me in every way to be right in every decision we make. So, to answer your question, I love what I do; I love coming to work."

So do a lot of head coaches, but after 10 years they can hit a wall. It happened with Jeff Fisher in Tennessee, with Fisher unable to win a playoff game in his last six seasons there and, worse, compiling a sub- 500 record in that time. It happened with Andy Reid in Philadelphia, too, with the Eagles' winningest coach also failing to win a playoff game in his last four seasons and winning just two more games in that period than he lost.

"Yeah," said one AFC coordinator, "but they had something in common: They both ran out of quarterbacks."

That's where Lewis is fortunate. He didn't run out of quarterbacks; he just ran into one, and a damned good one at that. When Carson Palmer announced he wouldn't return for the 2011 season, the Bengals did what they had to do and drafted Andy Dalton. But they also drafted star receiver A.J. Green, got rid of knucklehead receivers Chad Johnson and Terrell Owens, and hired offensive coordinator Jay Gruden -- all within months of each other.

Bottom line: They made changes that seemed to energize everyone around here -- and that includes owner Mike Brown, who might be the key figure in keeping Lewis fresh, enthusiastic and around.

"Mike and I have come to a great commonality -- a common ground -- in a lot of ways," Lewis said. "Prior to the draft, it's important in his mind that he and I are on the same page so he knows what I like. So it's important the final four or five days before the draft that he knows how I feel, whether it's A or B, and I think that probably has made the job more rewarding and more exciting because we know we have to be correct. It's been almost inspiring that way, you know what I'm saying?"

Not exactly. But I know what's happened here lately: The Bengals are making smart personnel decisions where they didn't before. They found star receiver Green and Dalton in the same draft; they turned Palmer into first- and second-round draft picks; they found promising wide receiver Marvin Jones with one of two choices acquired for Johnson; and they just landed playmakers Tyler Eifert and Giovani Bernard with this year's first two draft choices, one of which (Bernard) they picked up in the Palmer deal.

Basically, they're getting players more consistent with Lewis' idea of what he wants, and the results speak for themselves.

"So, then, you have more of a voice?" I asked Lewis.

"The voice has never changed," he said. "The structure of the player has changed. The blueprint of the player has been put in place, and it's stayed in place. And we're not going to deviate from that."

"And that structure is ...?"

"We're looking for guys who are productive football players and who are good people, smart enough and have the physical tools," he said. "It doesn't matter what their size is, and it doesn't mean we look at position. It means: Let's find the most productive guy, then look at his makeup, and decide: Does his makeup fit?"

That hasn't always been the case, and I don't need to recite the litany of players the Bengals drafted ... or acquired ... who were character risks. That doesn't mean they're rid of them now. Heck, cornerback Adam Jones, who seemed to have turned the corner, just ran into trouble again. But it does mean they're careful to avoid potholes, and that's a testament to the relationship Lewis has now with his boss.

"I think Mike's changed in the fact that he realizes we're not going to save them all," said Lewis.

Brown also realizes what he has in Lewis, and nowhere was that more apparent than after the 2010 season. Lewis' contract had expired, and the Bengals were coming off a 4-12 finish, their worst record in Lewis' tenure. Common sense said that Lewis was a goner, but Brown defied logic. He retained him, and Lewis responded with two consecutive playoff appearances -- an accomplishment when you share the same division with Baltimore and Pittsburgh.

But now what? Lewis proved he can win at a place where few thought it possible. Then he took the team to the playoffs. Now he has the Bengals poised to make a run at defending Super Bowl champion Baltimore, though Las Vegas isn't buying -- making Cincinnati the third-best team in the division.

"The challenge," Lewis reiterated, "is to win championships, win playoff games and get back to the playoffs because we don't get to write ourselves in. We have to win to get to the playoffs, and then we have to win playoff games."

Which, of course, they haven't in over two decades.

"We've got to get over that hump," said Lewis, "but first we have to get there. We don't need to concern ourselves with it now. The only way we get there is to have the kind of season we need to have to put ourselves in that position."

That will require more offense from Dalton & Co. It will require more defense from Mike Zimmer's unit, one that carried the Bengals the second half of 2012. And it will require more direction and energy from Lewis. Spend an afternoon around the guy, and you realize it can happen.

There's no fatigue. There's no burnout. There's no looking for the next exit ramp. Yes, his contract with the Bengals expires after 2014, but, no, he insisted, he has no intention of leaving unless asked -- regardless of what Bill Walsh and Bill Polian say.

"I know whom I work for, and I know what to expect each and every day," he said. "You want to go somewhere everybody can be happy -- where your coaches and families can flourish and do the things they want -- and we've seen that here.

"Guys here aren't on the phone looking for jobs. They live in a great place. They're well-paid. They're well-taken care of from the organization in every aspect. They have top-of-the-line insurance and top-of-the-line benefits in every way. So they're well-taken care of because Mike treats the coaches as an extension of his family. It's a great place to be."

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