Changes? Oh, c'mon, Josh! The oxcart is almost out of the ditch! We're only one or two players away! Two wins at the end of the season gives us momentum going into 2008! We need to stay the course! Bring back Justin! Bring Back Landon! Bring back Madieu! BRING BACK CALEB MILLER!!! No need to go into outside free agency in March; those guys won't know the system anyhow! Coaches? Bring back Brat! Bring back Chuck! And we need WRs, RBs and special teams in the first few rounds of the draft! I (heart) Mikey, best GM in football! His plan: someday we'll get the right combination of players and we'll win!

Changes? We don't need no stinkin' changes!

On the discussion of rebuilding or radically changing things, I don't think that they have a choice but I have 2 thoughts on the whole thing.

No changes:

1.  First we hear Marvin says that "it's time to blow the whole thing up and start from scratch" and now we hear something different as with his post game comments of "But there's no changes you're going to know or perceive" which tells us that there will be no changes in the coaching ranks at all.  I think this is a big mistake.
2.  From this point on we should watch and listen to how Marvin changes or alters his comments from making changes to letting everything be status quo as he seems to always do.  What about the stores of players being upset and the apparent lack of confidence in the coaching staff?  Worst case scenario is that Marvin will get angry at the media for asking about it and just stop talking to the press like he did much of the preseason which just leave the fans in the dark.

Make Changes:

1.  If your boss told you to do something a certain way and you didn't do it what would happen?  All we've been hearing from Lewis for the last 2 seasons is that the players are not doing their jobs and need to stop making mistakes.
Based on that it would appear that big changes need to be made.

2.  Based on the yards per carry average over the last 2 seasons it's apparent that changes need to be made.  This means on offense.  Let's see, Rudi averaged about 2.7 per carry and all the other RBs averaged a higher yardage number.  What does that tell us?  I feel that based on Watson's success that the rushing problem is not solely the fault of the OL.  I feel that something definately has to change at this position.  Another thought is that if Perry becomes healthy and Irons returns they will have a real puzzle at RB.  I'm hearing trade music.  
3.  Based on the lower 3rd down conversion rate over the past season it's certain that a change should be made to improve that area as well. Question is does this have something to do with the limited running game which allows teams to put more people in on pass coverage or is there something else wrong?  In any event some kind of changes need to occur.
4.  Limited passing to the TE which indicates that Cincy dedicates the TE to run blocking or to pass protecting.  If you TE cannot go out on pass patterns then this makes it easier for opposing  defenses.  It also indicates that your offensive line may not be as good as we might think.  In any event I do think that this is a problem but others may see it differently.  One thing that looked good yesterday was Coates.  He had a good game and showed that he can catch the ball.
5.  I could go on an on and talk about the defensive side of the ball and all of the changes that need to occur there like.......
   

     a.  low of below average pass rush.
     b.  tendency of not filling the gaps on runs.
     c.  soft pass coverage.
         surprisingly Cincy ranked fairly high in
         interceptions but time of possession was
         low.  Clearly the defense gave up short
         yardage passes.
     d.  extremely limited blitzing.
     e.  Justin Smith
     f.  the LBs
     g.  M. Williams and D. O'Neal.

Above all, I feel that a multitude of changes have to occur during the offseason and I feel that they should start right now with a thorough examination of the coaching staff.

I think injuries played a larger factor than most people thought. Enough has been said already of the small army of linebackers the Bengals went through. Curnutte had a good article recently about other more subtle injuries.  Like J. Joseph's stress facture. And on offense, the constant instability of the O-line at left and right tackle. When the O-line is not productive, the running game and pass protection will suffer.  When these suffer, the passing game will suffer, with more interceptions because the receivers will be better covered.

Does this mean that the Bengals stand pat? Hardly. Get rid of the players that can't stay on the field. Get rid of players who have put in their time but maybe have now lost a step. Get rid of coaches who have never shown any ability to adjust (how come we can never cover tight ends? Or pass to our own tight ends?)

And above all - if there is only one change to make this offseason - hire a GM!!!  Look at Holmgren in Seattle. (after some googling here.) He went 31-33 in four years without a GM. Then they hired a GM, and Seattle went to the Super Bowl (losing to Pittsburgh).