By Bill Koch and Mark Curnutte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Bengals players continued to express their support for Dick LeBeau on Monday after club president Mike Brown fired the coach. And they urged Brown to dig deeper as he seeks a cure for the franchise's problems.

"To say that you're 2-14 just because of the head coach, that's a long way from the truth," said quarterback Jon Kitna. "You have to look harder and look more for the root of the problem."

Still, the players understand that when things go sour, it's often the head coach who pays the price.

"Dick's bearing the brunt of our shortcomings," Kitna said. "I feel sad for Dick. I know how much he enjoyed being our coach. On the other hand, he had gone through some rough times here. He tried to be as positive as possible, but it wore on him."

Fullback Lorenzo Neal, the Bengals' only Pro Bowl representative this season, said team management might regret its decision to fire LeBeau in the future.

Neal, who became a free agent after the Bengals' 27-9 loss to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, laughed derisively in the locker room about the possibility that he might return to Cincinnati next season. But his attitude toward the organization didn't include LeBeau.

"They might not know what they had and lost in coach LeBeau," Neal said. "A lot of guys didn't understand coach LeBeau's philosophy.

"I think everybody liked coach LeBeau. We share the blame. I can't think of anyone who wouldn't play for him."

Second-year wide receiver Chad Johnson was one of LeBeau's staunchest supporters. Johnson produced five 100-yard receiving games this season, tying a record held by Carl Pickens, Eddie Brown and Tim McGee, and said he did it for LeBeau as much as he did it for himself and his Bengals teammates.

"I was playing for Dick LeBeau," Johnson said. "I wanted to win not only for myself and my teammates, I wanted to see him win. It hurts a little bit. I like the way he carried himself. I feel like I let him down individually."

Offensive tackle Willie Anderson, who has endured seven losing Bengals seasons under three different head coaches, said he wasn't surprised that LeBeau was blamed for the team's dreadful season.

"It's devastating any time a coach gets fired from an NFL team," Anderson said. "I hope the changes that are coming are real good changes."

That will depend largely on whom Brown selects to replace LeBeau.

"Are they going to bring in someone who commands respect from the guys, and guys are going to come in here and revere him?" Kitna asked. "Is that coach going to have the power to have the ultimate say on who's going to be here and who's not?

"That coach is going to have to do something to come in here and change the attitude of this football team."

Kitna favors a coach with a no-nonsense attitude, someone who will tell players how things are going to be and then follows through on what he says.

"Regardless of who you are, you will be subject to the same discipline if you don't adhere to the things that he's preaching," Kitna said.

Is Brown capable of hiring someone that strong-willed?

Only the Bengals president knows the answer.

"He owns the team," Anderson said. "What can you do?"