The Associated Press

BEREA, Ohio - The Cleveland Browns gave coach Butch Davis a two-year extension Friday even though the team lost 11 games last season.

The extension keeps Davis with the Browns for four more seasons, through 2007.

Davis joined the Browns in 2001, taking over a 2-year-old expansion team that had won just five games in two seasons. He led the Browns to the playoffs in his second season, but injuries and a lackluster offense kept the Browns from building on that success in 2003.

"He inherited a challenging situation in January of 2001, and we are in a much better position today than we were three years ago," Browns president Carmen Policy said in a statement. "We certainly have not achieved the lofty goals we have established for ourselves, but I am convinced we are not as far away as some may believe."

The Browns announced the contract extension with little fanfare or even a news conference. The move, which Policy had said would be made after the Super Bowl, provides the Browns with coaching stability as they look to attract free agents.

"We have a very healthy cap situation, and we head into the offseason encouraged about the likely opportunities to improve through free agency and the draft," Davis said in a statement.

WYCHECK RETIRES: Frank Wycheck has no regrets about retiring after catching more than 500 passes in 11 NFL seasons and says he's glad to go out a winner even though the Titans lost in the second round of the playoffs.

"I want to go out on top, and I want to retire as a Titan because I had so many great years here," Wycheck said Friday at a news conference, with his wife, Cherryn.

Wycheck recently became just the fourth tight end to top 500 catches, joining Shannon Sharpe and Hall of Famers Kellen Winslow and Ozzie Newsome.

BEARS: Five years after promising to return to the Chicago Bears, Ron Rivera was hired as defensive coordinator Friday.

"It's a great opportunity and a great honor to come back to Chicago," said Rivera, the Philadelphia Eagles' linebackers coach the past five seasons.

A second-round pick by the Bears in 1984, the linebacker spent his entire nine-year career in Chicago and was part of the 1986 Super Bowl championship team.

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