Good luck to the Bengals in the off-season effort to improve the team.  

What do Bengals fans think are the three areas the team most need improvement in?  Not just players and/or units, but coaching, game-day coaching, the defensive line coach, etc..  Along these lines, the Jets this year seemed to get a greater percentage of production out of their talent than any other team; while Palmer and Houshmandzadeh both whined after losses that the Bengals were the better team--as if past performance in other games entitled them to a win that day.  That sets up this question:  what are the biggest factors keeping the Bengals from maximizing their talent?  Is it coaching?; bad attitude?; or, like in the Redskins, a disgusting "phone it in" attitude in too many players (e.g., Deltha O'Neal)?.  

One of the problems this past year was lack of playmakers on the defense (aside from Kaesviharn early in the season).  Odell Thurman was great last year doing that and was obviously missed.  I wonder, is Coach Lewis's recent very tough talk ("not on the team, not on the horizon") designed to send Thurman a message and/or the result of end-of-season frustration, or does it reflect a final decision to get rid of the player?  Perhaps Lewis himself doesn't know. Thurman may not deserve another chance, but I hope the Bengals give him one anyway.  

My two cents about the team's needs are, number one, they need to strengthen the D-Line.  Do whatever they can to do that.  Examples of what I mean:  two years ago, the Bengals went LB/LB in the first two rounds of the draft; last year, the Jets went O-Line/O-Lind with their two first round picks; and the Ravens both signed a big name D-Lineman (Trevor Pryce) and drafted D-Line in the first round, trading up a spot to get Hagoti Ngata.  Or maybe it's time to get a new D-Line position coach.  The Bengals need some mean men on the defensive line to stop the run.  Along those lines, I looked at the Ravens depth chart and saw that their starting NT, Kelly Gregg, was originally drafted by the Bengals in the 6th round of the '99 draft.  He was cut and then practice-teamed, but the Eagles signed him off the PS in early December, 1999, then cut him at the end of pre-season 2000.  The Ravens acquired him in early 2001; he was a backup that year, and 2002 was his "breakout year" as a starter.  Interestingly, Marvin Lewis was the DC for the Ravens when they first acquired Gregg.  Maybe there's a lesson there, that it's the makeup of the guy as much as talent, the size of the fight in the dog, as they say.  How much fight is there in Jonathan Fanene?; or in Frostee Rucker?  Domata Peko? Maybe that's also why Lewis hasn't spent his first day draft picks on D-line players (with the exception of Rucker last year in the 3rd round).  D-Line has been neglected on Day 1 of the last four drafts.  And it shows.

The Bengals have spent much of their draft day capital since 2003 on linebackers and have a surfeit of young LBs; I'd be surprised if they went after a starting middle linebacker in the draft (that's another position where it's the size of the fight in the dog that matters most).  Remember that Ahmad Brooks was acquired so late that he missed all the minicamps; hopefully, with the experience he's gotten this year playing and the critiques of his playing from the coaches, he'll know what to do during the off-season and mini-camps to improve to star status next year.  Berryman is an unknow quantity, and rawer than Brooks; which is why he was assigned to NFL Europe.  Interestingly, Kelly Gregg started his Ravens career with an assignment to the Rhein Fire.  I hope Berryman develops as quickly as Gregg did for the Ravens.