Sat Nov 21 2009
CINCINNATI (AP) - Ryan Fitzpatrick took the snap, went to his knee, then lobbed the ball to the nearest referee. The clock ran off the last 30 seconds of an all-around dreadful season.
It wasn't long before the clamoring for change began.
The Cincinnati Bengals' 16-6 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday was more of a beginning than an end. Both teams had long ago been eliminated from anything meaningful, relegated to playing out the season before they can decide what needs to be different so it doesn't happen again.
For the Chiefs (2-14), the change has already started.
Coach Herm Edwards paced the sideline in a red jacket and cap, watching his team give a lackadaisical performance that concluded the worst season in the franchise's 49-year history. General manager Carl Peterson already is gone, leaving after 20 years in Kansas City. His successor will have a big say in the next head coach.
Will Edwards get to stay? Too early to say.
"It's absolutely business as usual," Edwards said. "I'll be in the office all week and I'll be around. We'll evaluate our team and go from there."
One Chief wants out.
"Hopefully, my future is not with this organization," running back Larry Johnson said, after the Chiefs lost for the 23rd time in their past 25 games.
Johnson was one of the franchise's most important players, getting a contract extension last year that guaranteed him $19 million. Since then, his performance has slipped in the Chiefs' spread offense, and he's gotten in trouble off the field. He was deactivated for three games by the team and then suspended for one game by the NFL after he was charged with assaulting a woman. It was the fourth time in five years he had been accused of assaulting a woman.
"The city is tired of me, and the organization and I have run our course together," Johnson said. "It's time to move on for me. There could be 100 changes. It's time for me to go."
Unlike the Chiefs, the Bengals (4-11-1) aren't in flux in the front office. There is no general manager to fire " owner Mike Brown calls the shots " and coach Marvin Lewis has two years left on his contract, giving him job security. Brown doesn't fire coaches that he will have to pay to do nothing.
Most of their changes will involve an offense that finished last in the league and ended the season as a shell of itself because of injury. The Bengals were missing both offensive tackles and receivers T.J. Houshmandzadeh and Chad Ocho Cinco because of injury.
Fitzpatrick, who played 12 games after Carson Palmer hurt his elbow, led the Bengals to wins in their last three games. He's eligible for free agency.
So is Houshmandzadeh, the team's top receiver the past two seasons. He said after Sunday's game that he doesn't want the team to use its franchise tag to keep him around for one more season.
"I feel like I don't mind staying here," said Houshmandzadeh, who had 92 catches for 904 yards and four touchdowns. "I would like to stay here, but I don't want to stay here if I get franchised because it's just a one-year deal. I know that, they know that. It's not a long-term thing."
Cedric Benson ran for 111 yards and a touchdown, then suggested he'll look at what other teams offer in the offseason " his contract is up as well.
The Bengals were in a better frame of mind as they started coming to terms with all of the uncertainty.
"Finishing strong at 3-0, it's one word: Liberation," offensive tackle Bobbie Williams said. "It's very liberating."
Notes: The Bengals sold 63,984 tickets for the game, setting a franchise record with their 44th consecutive sellout. The crowd got so bored that it did the wave in the fourth quarter. Some of the loudest cheers came for a halftime scrimmage between a youth football team and mascots for local sports teams, including the Bengals' mascot. The kids won that one. ... The Chiefs had one sack, leaving them with 10 for the season, the fewest by any team since the NFL made sacks an official statistic in 1981.
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