If you didn't get to watch the press conference, don't get too excited quite yet. Neither Mike Brown nor Marvin Lewis announced any of the particular details of Lewis' contract extension. There were no definitive announcements about an indoor practice facility or about future coaching changes. The only changes that Brown or Lewis announced during their press conference on Tuesday was that there will be changes in the future.
Now that Lewis has signed on to be the head coach of the Bengals in 2011, he will be the most tenured coach in Bengals history, surpassing Paul Brown and Sam Wyche. He is the losingest coach in Bengals history but he only needs to win five games next season to become the winningest coach as well.
"Obviously, unless I felt right about the situation and what he can do with our team, that wouldn't have happened," Brown said about Marvin surpassing his father has the longest tenured head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals. "We have a team that's very close. I think continuity will help. We'll add some people. We'll make some changes and I think we'll get this thing quickly back to where we want it to be."
As for the particular details of Lewis' extension, there weren't any. It wasn't announced how many years Lewis will be the head coach of the Bengals under this new extension. It wasn't announced whether or not an indoor practice facility would be built or if Lewis would be granted more control over team personnel like many feel he wanted. The only thing that was announced was that he was back.
"I just think that, when you consider all things, looking forward and so forth, I think that this is the right spot for me to be," Lewis said. "I'm not happy with where we are. As I said it's not finished. I came here to do a certain thing and I'm not done."
Lewis and Brown both feel that the Bengals have the right core group of players in place for the Bengals to be successful.
"We have the right nucleus of the right guys," Lewis said. "We need to add to it and we will. We had kind of a new outpouring, or new hatching, of these young kids this year. In some cases, it was too late. But we did. It was kind of a refreshing experience for me, I know it was for Mike [Brown], but it gave you a new life. I know it did for Carson. I think it showed us a lot. I met with the first and second year guys, and we met in that room, and that's almost half of our football team."
As for the future changes in the coaching staff, both Brown and Lewis were quiet other than to say that there would be changes.
"We'll address that as we go forward," Brown said. "I don't think it's timely to get into it here today. We believe thing have to done a little differently."
One of the major rumors floating around was the Lewis demanded an indoor practice facility if he was to remain the head coach in Cincinnati. The Bengals are the northern most team without an indoor facility. When asked if he would build a new practice facility, Brown didn't say yes or no.
"Marvin has a desire to have a practice facility," Brown said. "I have a desire but probably not as keen. That doesn't mean I don't have a desire. The timing is important. Right now we're faced with major issues in the National Football League and those are at the front of our agenda. When we get through that then we'll have time to consider this issue. It's one of the important issues that we have in mind. I would make the comment that some of this is perception. We worked in the cold weather, we played in the cold weather. It didn't seem to hurt us any to practice in the cold weather; we played pretty well in it. But, I do know that it is the way it is trending. It's a fact that we have been behind what others are doing. Whether that makes them better than us because they have an indoor facility is a question. But, it's coming."
Brown also commented on the criticisms that he has faced about having a small scouting staff. He pointed out that he disagrees with that particular criticism stating that his scouts are just as good as any in the NFL.
"The Scouting thing is another criticism that raises up when we don't do well," he said. "If you look at our record on scouting over the last couple years, we rank tenth for the number of games played by players that we drafted. I don't apologize for our scouting. It's an easy target but if you look at the real facts, I think you'll see it differently."
He went on to point out that the unfortunate injuries of Chris Perry and David Pollack, the loss of Odell Thurman and the untimely death of Chris Henry skews the Bengals' scouting statistics.
Both Lewis and Brown repeatedly said that the personnel changes, both in the coaching staff and on the roster, will happen soon but it will happen on their time. Browns said that the first thing on the long list of things to do was to get Lewis back on board as the Bengals head coach. After that they would look into the coaching staff and then finally they would retool the roster.
There were no major announcements other than the fact that Lewis is going to be the head coach next year and that he will be for the next unknown amount of years.
The only definite statement that Lewis or Brown made were promises that the Bengals will be better and that keeping Lewis as the head coach is the best way to make that happen.