It's time.

	Bengals running back Corey Dillon will be a restricted free agent at the end of the season.

This can't keep happening week after week, year after year.

The seams are starting to split inside the Cincinnati Bengals' locker room. Frustration has turned to anger. Head coach Bruce Coslet is trying to keep a lid on this disaster, but it's too late.

Linebacker Takeo Spikes screamed across the locker room at a reporter Sunday after the Bengals' 31-10 loss to the Indianapolis Colts. Doosh! Coslet rushed over to douse the flames.

"It's an emotional game, fellas," he told reporters, perhaps wishing that were true for his team.

But Coslet couldn't be everywhere at once. In another corner, one quarterback referred to another as a golden boy and a few lockers down from him the best player on the team, running back Corey Dillon, could no longer disguise his true feelings. He was a brush fire practically out of control.

"You all know better than I do," Dillon said when asked if major changes are needed in this franchise. "Don't even ask me that. You know what needs to be done.

"We're one and what, six? You think I want to continue to go out there and lose each week? If somebody's all right with what's going on here, something's wrong with them. I'm dead serious."

So there it is, finally.

A measure of honesty replacing all that garbage about keeping the faith, working hard and knowing it will eventually turn around.

	“	Either they bring some people in here that want to get it done or ... I'm tired of taking that abuse. They keep saying this is what we're going to do this week, and then they get in the game and do something different. It happens every time. I'm tired of hearing the excuse that we're behind. That ain't my fault. ”
		— Corey Dillon

It all came spilling out Sunday at the RCA Dome. There is no silver lining to this one, nothing to build on for next week. No reason but to expect more of the same.

The dam has burst. Team president Mike Brown, the author of this abomination, has to act. Cutting another punter won't get it done. It's time to fire Coslet.

Until now, Brown's incompetence has saved Coslet from incurring the bulk of the wrath directed at this laughable franchise. How could it be Coslet's fault when Brown was calling the shots about personnel?

Then there was always the glorious future that would arrive one day, a future that Brown has been looking to ever since he took over as president and general manager in 1991. That future never seems to arrive, and it's becoming increasingly obvious it's not going to unless changes are made.

Coslet is 18-30 as Bengals head coach, including 2-16 since Oct. 11, 1998.

"I've been here for three years, and it's been the same scenario," Dillon said. "Next year, next year, next year. I'm tired of hearing that. Who knows what's going to happen next year? I don't know why everybody's relying on next year. You've got to play now. You can't guarantee no next year."

Dillon, the NFL's leading rusher entering the game, carried just six times for seven yards. He declined to play in the second half after receiving five stitches to close a gash in his forearm.

That decision was more than an attempt on Dillon's part to prevent further injury in a game that was already out of hand. It was a statement about his confidence in the coaching staff. What was the sense of going back into the game, he said, when all the Bengals were going to do was pass?

"I'm tired of this (expletive)," Dillon said. "Either they bring some people in here that want to get it done or ... I'm tired of taking that abuse. They keep saying this is what we're going to do this week, and then they get in the game and do something different. It happens every time. I'm tired of hearing the excuse that we're behind. That ain't my fault."

Who should Brown get to replace Coslet? Who cares? At this point, you could replace him with just about anybody and the result couldn't be any worse. Personally, I would like to see Sam Wyche back on the sidelines. At least when the Bengals lost with Wicky Wacky in charge, it was interesting, sometimes entertaining. This is embarrassing, disheartening, virtually unwatchable.

The Bengals play Jacksonville at Cinergy Field on Sunday. If nothing changes between now and then, that stadium should be virtually empty.

Do something, Mike. Don't talk about how close the Bengals are to being competitive. Don't tell us about the future or about other franchises that have turned it around. It ain't happening here, pal.

"So many things went wrong, I don't know where to begin," Coslet said.

We do. It's time.

Bill Koch writes for The Cincinnati Post.