The Facts: The Bengals fired Marvin Lewis, unofficially hired Zac Taylor as head coach and, Oakland Raiders coach Jon Gruden alleges, added Brian Callahan as offensive coordinator. This is a time of change. League sources here in Mobile, though, indicate more than one candidate during the Bengals coaching search expressed approval in the Cincinnati quarterback situation. That’s because eight-year starter Dalton has proven himself capable, in the eyes of the Bengals personnel department, and also has an advantageous contract (two years remaining with no dead money salary cap charge if he's released) for a potential bridge to a quarterback of the future. A simple statement about a potentially complicated matter: Taylor could work with Dalton for years to come or fall in love with a prospect in this year's draft or the next and choose to transition.

Diehards Line: Duke Tobin, the Bengals director of player personnel, backed that up earlier this week. "We're very comfortable with Andy," Tobin said. "We think he's got a number of years left. We feel like we can win with him. But with any position group, we don't just throw away the whole draft board at a group just because we're satisfied with who we have. We'll evaluate them and look at them and see if there's an opportunity to add a guy at every position." In other words, if you're looking for definitive, dial back your expectations. For a franchise still officially without a head coach, nothing in late January is definitive.