Vermeil eyes the big prize
ADAM TEICHER
The Kansas City Star
Dick Vermeil was teary-eyed at the thought of winning his 100th NFL game Sunday, so what might the Chiefs coach do if he could get this season to, say, 111?
It's reasonable to expect that the Chiefs would then be Super Bowl champions, figuring a 12-4 regular-season record, two playoff wins and a Super Bowl victory.
Vermeil indicated Monday, a day after the Chiefs moved to 4-0 by beating Baltimore 17-10, that he believed the Chiefs are capable of getting him there this season.
Vermeil understands that a fast start guarantees nothing, particularly with the 4-0 Broncos clinging to their share of first place in the AFC West and coming to Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday. He knows the Chiefs have a long way to go before they can help make him the first coach to take three different teams to the Super Bowl.
But he also has seen enough to declare the Chiefs' success the real thing.
“This is no fluke,” Vermeil said. “This is a solid football team. I think it's a complete team. We have some areas that are stronger than other areas, but we have no weaknesses.”
By getting Vermeil to 100 so quickly this season, the Chiefs are giving him a chance to climb well beyond that in the long run. Vermeil said many times during the off-season that he would like to coach the Chiefs beyond the end of his contract next winter if he feels that they are making progress and that he is making a worthy contribution.
Vermeil has yet to commit himself to another season or more and is putting off any public talk so he can avoid becoming a distraction.
But he is clearly satisfied with the Chiefs' progress, particularly on defense, where repeated breakdowns last season cost them a chance to finish better than 8-8 and make the playoffs.
“I feel good about what my coaching staff is doing,” Vermeil said. “I'm the head coach, so I'd like to believe I'm part of it and make my contribution.
“There are many times I feel very confident I could just walk out of this building for two days and come back and see how it's going. They're all so efficient and organized and detailed and have a great work ethic. They don't need constant supervision and motivation.”
In his coaching stops from Philadelphia to St. Louis to Kansas City, Vermeil has always enjoyed the mammoth weekly task of preparing for a new opponent. He wouldn't be a football coach if he didn't.
This season's victories have provided him with a new zest for the task.
“Losing (stinks), the drudgery of it,” he said. “You go through the same routine, but the emotions go the other way. The challenges are greater and the expectations are greater, but I like being held to higher expectations. I like a football team to be held under the gun. I think it draws the most out of you.”
It's hardly news when Vermeil cries as he discusses his relationship with a player or a player's achievement. But it is unusual for him to break down while discussing a personal accomplishment, as he did in Baltimore after Sunday's game.
To commemorate the 100th victory, Chiefs president Carl Peterson presented a glass plaque to Vermeil in the post-game locker room, prompting the waterworks from his emotional coach.
“Very significant, very significant,” Vermeil said after the game. “…To be able to win 100 games means you owe a lot to a lot of people.”
That's just it. Vermeil doesn't look at winning his 100th game as a personal achievement for which only he can take the credit.
“I've never looked at things individually,” he said. “I was thinking of all the players and coaches that have been involved over the years.
“It made me, on the plane sitting talking with (wife) Carol about it, reminisce about the (Eagles players) Wilbert Montgomerys and the (Jerry) Sisemores and Bill Bergeys and on to the Rams and the Grant Wistroms and Orlando Paces and Kurt Warners and Marshall Faulks. And then here, all the people that made it possible.
“To me, it's a symbol of a lot of work by a lot of players and coaches over a long period of time.”
Vermeil knows he would be well beyond 100 regular-season and playoff wins if he hadn't taken a 14-season break from coaching between quitting the Eagles in 1982 and moving to the Rams in 1997.
But to Vermeil, arguments are moot about what he could have achieved had he stayed. He cited stress and burnout when he left Philadelphia.
“I've thought about it,” Vermeil said. “My first thought is that I would probably be in a mental institution. You think I'm kidding. I would have been close to some kind of a breakdown. I was moving that way.
“I'd probably be retired or fired if I had stayed in coaching.”
