Just 350 days ago, now ex-Miami Dolphins G.M. Randy Mueller handed their head coaching job to former San Diego offensive coordinator Cam Cameron.  Apparently Randy doesn't have Wikipedia (or any game film from Cam's head coaching stint at Indiana University), or he would have realized that this was doomed to failure from the start.  Cameron won less than 1/3 of the games he coached at Indiana, and looked thoroughly overwhelmed this season, as the Dolphins went 1-15.  He was tied with Rod Rust for the 2nd worst career winning percentage of a head coach who survived a full season in the NFL since 1930. 

Mercifully, new V.P. of Football Operations Bill Parcells cut ties with Cameron today.  But don't feel too bad for old Cammie.  He's going to be to receiving over $7.5 million for the next three years to not coach the Dolphins.  So as Cam decides where next to ply his trade, let's look back at some of the "highlights" of the Cam Cameron era:

• The Dolphins interviewed 12 candidates before settling on Cameron, which probably in and of itself was a bad sign to begin with - you don't interview 11 candidates before deciding to sit down with your number one choice for the job.
• Cam and Mueller were unified in their stance that they were going to clean things up and get rid of the bad character guys, and bring in good citizens to play for Miami.  So when Fred Evans got into hot water with the law, they quickly cut ties with him.
• Guaranteeing approximately $20 million for an over-the-hill Joey Porter (whose little offseason dustup with Bengals OL Levi Jones was just being brought to light when they signed him), that was ok though.
• They shocked everyone in football by passing on Brady Quinn (who was practically tailor made for the 'Fins) to select WR/KR Ted Ginn, who suffered a significant foot injury just four months earlier in the BCS Championship Game.  Cameron may well have been the first coach to ever be booed at his team's draft party before he even coached a game.  But they did select QB John Beck in the second round, only to watch him struggle mightily in his rookie season.
• After three months of rumors, Miami finally cut a deal to get QB Trent Green from Kansas City for a 5th round pick.  This coming just one year after they spent a 2nd round pick to get Daunte Culpepper from the Vikings.
• Defensive lineman Jason Taylor was quoted in SI as saying he was worried that one bad hit to Green could turn him into "scrambled eggs".  Five games into the season, Green effectively became scrambled eggs, and it's unlikely that he'll ever return to football.
• The team gave up over 30 points eight times, and broke 30 themselves just once (we knew Cam was an offensive genius, who knew he could make the other team's offense a juggernaut as well).
• They traded Chris Chambers, one of their all-time greatest receivers, for what will turn out to be a low 2nd round draft pick.
• RB Ronnie Brown blew out his knee seven weeks in, cutting short what looked to be a promising season for him.
• They lost to the lowly Jets twice and the sad-sack Raiders.
• They lost to the Eagles on a week where they were led by backup QB A.J. Feeley, whom the Dolphins gave up a 2nd round draft pick for three years earlier.  Feeley won exactly three games as a Dolphins starter.
• The defense dropped from fourth to 20th, allowing an offensive 150+ ypg rushing, and ranked near the bottom in just about every meaningful offensive statistical category..
• The player who scored the game-winning TD in their only win (Cameron couldn't even get going winless right) sparked only questions of "wait, I thought Rich Camarillo was a punter, and isn't he retired?"

Look, Cam Cameron is the living embodiment of the Peter Principle.  He is a very good coordinator who does not have the practice management, game planning, or organizational skills to be an NFL head coach.  He should latch on somewhere as a coordinator again, and that's a damned fine living to make.  I would say that he'd be a good fit as the Bengals' offensive coordinator (who would be worlds better than Bob Bratkowski), but I'd be frightened that Mike Brown would elevate him to head coach if/when Marvin Lewis leaves town, and that's a pretty scary prospect in and of itself.

So earlier in the week Bengals' QB Carson Palmer tells the media that he thinks changes should be made to the coaching staff. He feels that a lot of changes need to be made. The fans have only been screaming that all season, not to mention for a few years now. Granted fans tend to overreact to anything and everything. But in this case, they and Palmer are right.

Normally I don't like players speaking out against their team or coaching staff. But in this case I think its great that Palmer came out and spoke his mind. While he's been a great QB ever since he took the reigns four years ago, Palmer has never truly exhibited a leadership quality that you'd expect from a starting QB, not to mention one of the best players in the game. This year was a frustrating one for the team as a whole as well as for Palmer. He may have set the single season franchise record for passing yards (4,131), but he also threw the most interceptions (20) in a season in his short career.

What was thought to be the year to get back to the playoffs, the Bengals didn't even finish at .500. While everyone points to the defense as the reason, the offense was out of sync most of the season as well. Making changes and making this team better has to start in the offseason. Palmer feels the same way. "We need to approach the offseason in a completely new way," he says. "We need to come back a rejuvenated team and a team on a mission."

There is no doubt changes need to be made to this team. It started today when the team let defensive coordinator, Chuck Bresnahan, and linebackers coach, Ricky Hunley, go. This will be the third time in five seasons under Marvin Lewis that the Bengals will be searching for a new defensive coordinator. The firing of Bresnahan wasn't a surprise, but letting Hunley go surprised me a little. While the defense was lackluster to say the least this season, the linebacker position was the one most decimated with injuries. At one point this season DE Robert Geathers had to fill in as linebacker due to injuries at the position. So it wasn't like Hunley had a strong core to work with.

Changes definitely need to be made even beyond letting Bresnahan and Hunley go. If you ask me I think offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski should be the next to get the boot. His offensive play-calling lacks imagination. He has one of the most potent offenses in the game at his disposal. The fact that they couldn't score more than 20 points in seven games this season says a lot when you have a great core of players on the offensive side of the ball. Granted its up to the players to execute the plays, but when the play calling is awful what can they do? Palmer can only audible so much before he comes off as disrespectful to his coach. And he's no Peyton Manning, at least not yet.

Great job speaking your mind Palmer. I just wish you had said more of what you were thinking. Even still, I'm glad to see you're speaking up and speaking out a little. You're supposed to be the leader of the team. After a season like this one, frustration is expected. Leaders emerge from these types of situations. Hopefully Palmer becomes just that. Now its time to make the changes and do something so the team isn't back in the same situation all over again next season.