So what's the truth?

MIAMI -- At his news conference last week, Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said not to expect "earthshaking" news in the offseason and said the media jumped the gun in reporting the potential for changes on the roster and with assistant coaches. He said the club has re-done coaches' contracts but not announced the deals to the media.

The front office, while not allowing any excuses publicly, has pointed to a long list of reasons for the 6-9 season to date -- including series of injuries that "wiped out" the linebacker and running back positions.

Then Lewis told The Columbus Dispatch, in the most general terms, that there's the potential to "blow the whole thing up and start from scratch" -- whatever that means.

"We need to empty these shelves, empty these offices and start from scratch," Lewis told The Dispatch. "Yeah, because we haven't been good enough. We're not going to sit here and be complacent with it."

Bengals president Mike Brown holds the trump card to whatever Lewis might want to do.

For three weeks in a row, I had asked Lewis about the possibility of changes in the offseason. He has either refused to talk about it, even in vague terms, or answered in coach-speak generalities. No one else in the organization is authorized to talk on the record.

What I heard from other reliable sources inside the organization is that the front office doesn't think the Bengals are far away from contention.