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Will 67-year-old Dick Vermeil, the oldest head coach in the NFL, be back for another season?
It's a question that's certain to add intrigue to the postseason for Kansas City, one that day-by-day is putting fans, players and assistant coaches closer to the edge of their seats.
Vermeil promises an answer soon, possibly even before the Chiefs (13-3), the No. 2 seed in the AFC playoffs, conclude their season.
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``If I feel real good about I can help this organization be better than they
were this year ... then chances are I'll stay on and keep trying to do it,''
he said Monday.
Vermeil already is assured of an honored standing among the NFL coaching fraternity. He's taken the Eagles, Rams and Chiefs to the postseason and could become the first coach to take three different teams to the Super Bowl.
He's popular with fans. His players love him. And general manager Carl Peterson, one of his closest friends, has vowed that as long as he's running the Chiefs, Vermeil can be his head coach.
``I'm not being run out of town,'' Vermeil said. ``I just have to do what I think is best in relationship to my responsibilities as a head football coach and being in the right frame of mind to do it better next year than we've done it this year.''
Vermeil retired abruptly after leading the Rams to a win in the 2000 Super Bowl and said later it was a mistake. A year later, Peterson talked him out of retirement for a three-year, $10 million contract that expires next month.
Continuing a career pattern of making breakthroughs in his third year, he had the Chiefs off to a 9-0 start this season and got them into the playoffs for the first time since 1997.
Vermeil acknowledges he vacillates -- thinking he would like to put it all behind him after discouraging losses such as the 45-20 setback to Minnesota two weeks ago, then changing his mind after a heartening win such as Sunday's 31-3 decision over Chicago.
``That's why I've just got to get everything in a balanced and even frame of mind and be able to project where that same frame of mind would be next year,'' he said.
``I couldn't wait to come to work this morning. But I'm very, very realistic,'' he added. ``The term I always use is that there are no guarantees in this league. I look at the big picture and how it will be next year and where I fit in terms of the contribution I think I can help make.''
Vermeil invoked the term ``burnout'' when he retired as a hard-driving and successful head coach at Philadelphia after the 1982 season. He stayed out for 14 years, working as a television analyst for NFL and college games, then took over in St. Louis in 1997.
He delegates much more responsibility than he did 25 years ago when he often slept in his office. But the long hours take a toll.
``Sometimes you just run out of gas,'' he said. ``Especially with my personality type. You just don't know if you can do it better next year. Very few people can really appreciate the grind. It's a wonderful grind. But it's a draining grind. When you're older, and my personality type, it can drain you.
``You can pretend you've got a lot left. But I tell you, sometimes you're kidding everybody, including yourself.''
He raised the subject Monday morning with his staff.
``I told them I'm not going
to leave them in limbo,'' he said.