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One by one, Bengals players left Paul Brown Stadium yesterday carrying garbage bags full of equipment and mementos. It is unclear how many will ever return, and it might not become clear for a few months. Around here, a 7-9 record generally has been an opportunity to preach patience, to emphasize the good and the chance it could become great. Coach Marvin Lewis has said this 7-9 season will spur significant offseason change, but he has declined to offer specifics. "There's got to be revisions in things we do, and understand there has to be an urgency, sweeping it clean," he said yesterday, during his annual end-of-the-season news conference. "What happens a lot in coaching, you get stale. We've got to find a better way, a new way of looking at things. We have to take a critical look at those things." Quarterback Carson Palmer predicted "a hard and long offseason. We've got a lot of issues, a lot of problems to iron out."
Specifically, on the coaching staff. When asked whether he thought the Bengals could make the necessary improvements under the current staff, Palmer said, "I don't think so." He was quick to point out that he does not know what, if any, changes are in store, and it is not his job to make the changes. That responsibility falls on Lewis and team president Mike Brown, and Lewis said he would not publicly discuss his coaches' futures. "There are things we need to do more and better, and we'll address those things," he said. "Some of the coaches will have opportunities (for new jobs). We'll see what happens. At this point, I'm not going to say anything further about that." Palmer said it was the most disappointing season of his athletic career, "from junior Pop Warner football to T-ball to now." "The amount of sleep I lost this year, I'm 28 going on 34," he said. "I think I missed a couple years. Just a frustrating year. Disappointing. There were times I felt sick to my stomach, and I didn't have the flu. Just a long, long, frustrating year. But in saying it was a long, frustrating year, I wish we could start all over and play 16 games right now. I'm not ready to go home." It was not a universal feeling in the Bengals locker room. A number of players cleaned out their lockers early yesterday, as if they could not wait to go home. Defensive lineman Bryan Robinson, a free agent-to-be, removed the nameplate from his locker before he left. It was a reminder of the inevitable change the team will experience: Five key defensive players are eligible for unrestricted free agency, and there are some high-salaried veterans who could be released to save money. How much more change occurs will depend on how Lewis and Brown truly view this 7-9 season. "I have no idea," receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh said. "Nobody in here really knows." Columbus Dispatch http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/bengals/stories/2008/01/01/bengals0101.ART_ART_01-01-08_C3_V08UCHV.html?sid=101
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