Boeing to do something

In this week's Aviation Week it was announced that Boeing would do a re-engined 737. That is the ordinary jetliner that most of us fly in, a single aisle jet in the jargon of the airlines. It is the highest production plane Boeing has, and competes head to head with Airbus A320 and A330.
Airbus announced the A330NEO (New Engine Option) a few months ago. The A330 would be equipped with new highly efficient engines, the Pratt and Whitney Geared Turbofan if memory serves, and gain an 8 to 10 percent improvement in fuel burn. This sounded so good that Airbus garnered 400-500 orders, even thought the NEO won't be available for 3-4 years.
Boeing, loaded down with the 787 (all plastic mini-jumbo jet) which was supposed to deliver 3 years ago and is still awaiting FAA type certification, did not want to jump into yet another new aircraft project until the 787 was out of the woods and into production and bringing in money. But, with customers flocking to the competition, Boeing had to do something. So they announced a re engined 737 is in the works and will give 8 to 10 percent better fuel burn than current production 737's.
Aviation Week ran an editorial bewailing the loss of Boeing's New Small Aircraft concept, a single aisle jet redesigned from a clean sheet of paper. They feel that a total redesign would be far far superior to a plain jane engine swap. Perhaps. I just finished reading a photographic coffee table book on the DC-3, which went into production in the 1930's, flew revenue flights in the US for 50 years, and is still flying out in the boondocks. Could it be that the 737 is just as good a design, and just wants better engines to compete for another 25 years?