FanPost

Brat will probably not be back. Here's why.

A lot of people have been weirded out and possibly worried about the non-changes in the coaching staff. Recent statements from Lewis and Hobson suggest something will happen soon, so we're a little less antsy. The bloggers here and Reedy are understandably cautious about this whole thing, but here's why I'm almost positive Bob Bratkowski won't be the offensive coordinator in 2011:

1) He's not under contract. This is a big deal for Mike Brown, who doesn't like firing guys he'll have to pay later. Bratkowski would have to sign a new deal to stay as OC.

2) The long wait should have been expected. MB does this with free agents, too. He waits for the dust to settle so that he and his minions can examine players for a longer time instead of racing against the clock to pay big money to a guy that just went on the market. Does this always lead to success? No (Antonio Bryant, et al). But it's how they do things. They didn't fire Brat yet, because they don't want to get caught up in the new coaching frenzy. There's still a couple of decent options out there, and everyone knows they could just as well go with Ken Zampese if they want.

3) Brat was ineffective for the last few years, and everyone - everyone - knows it. Yeah, the offense was better later on. Yes, he has friends in the organization. But I don't have to tell you how painful it was to watch his offense. The Bengals are facing a PR disaster if they don't make a major change, and with Marvin Lewis and Carson Palmer coming back, there's only one option. If they want to sell even a respectable number of season tickets, they have to drop this guy.

4) Word is that Bratkowski wants Benson out, but it sounds like the team is pursuing Ced pretty hard. In addition to the convo with Brad Childress, we heard Marvin talk about how much he wants to hang onto Benson.

5) The one thing we actually gleaned from that vomit-inducing, horrible press conference was that there would probably be coaching changes. What makes us think they simply changed their minds? Or lied? If they kept everything else close to the chest, what's the point in lying about the coaching changes? They could have dodged that too, but they didn't do so (to the extent that they dodged everything else).

I'm sure there's more, but y'all will add it below I'm sure if it comes to you.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Cincy Jungle's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan, which is as important as the views of Cincy Jungle's writers or editors.