Dick Vermeil is 135-106-4 as an NFL head coach, including two trips to the Super Bowl and one championship. AP

CINCINNATI -- You know what I really like about Dick Vermeil? That in this, the final year of his contract, his team is 6-0, he is the emotional glue and the father figure and the Boy Scout leader that so many of his players have never had, and he refuses to think about 2004 because 2003 has been so much fun.

You know how our society is. We can't enjoy the present. And you know how coaches are. They enjoy hearing the phrase "lame duck" about as much as the NRA likes hearing "Michael Moore." Many coaches might say they're not concerned about the future, but you know they are, and you know that behind the scenes they're working the front office or their friends in the media to get them a contract for next year, and the years beyond.

Not Vermeil. He is 66 going on 21, and he has learned one thing during his coaching career: Appreciate the present. Cherish the present. Because in this business, it's all you have.

"I do think about it [the future] every once in a while,'' he told me the other night, in the midst of preparing the Chiefs to invade Raider Nation Monday night. Vermeil knows, no matter how spotless his team's record is, this will be a pretty hard game to win. "But this season is not about Dick Vermeil or any of the coaches here. It's about our success. I don't know what I'm going to do, quite frankly. I haven't talked with [team president] Carl Peterson about it. And everyone on my coaching staff is on the last year of his contract. I never planned to come back, as you know. If I'd known I would come back to coach when Carl asked me, I'd have never left St. Louis in the first place. I do know this: This time, I won't make any irrational, split-second decision like I did with the Rams.''

Four Vermeil quickies from our conversation:

THE CHIEFS' ETHIC: "I knew we had something special, especially in terms of our chemstry, when we had our offseason program, 14 OTAs [organized team activities] and our mini-camps, and not one player on the entire squad missed even one of those events. Not one!''

HIS EMOTION: "You know me. My motto is 'I'm never going to act as old as I am.' I'm one of those guys who gets into the lives of his players. I love them. I can't tell you how much I love these kids. And they are kids. They're all younger than my own children. I miss these players so much on Mondays and Tuesdays, when they're not here after we win. And every Sunday, I can't wait to watch 'em play.''

HOW GOOD THIS TEAM IS: "Do we have the stuff to go 16-0? No. But who does? All we ever ask 'em is to win one in a row. I am worried right now because we aren't playing as well as people might think. But we lead the league in taking the ball away -- we've got 17 takeaways -- and usually someone gives us a spark during the game.''

DANTE HALL: "Last year, I kept telling people, 'All he needs is to break the dike, and then you're really going to see something.' To me, when I saw Dante, I saw Az Hakim. And I know he's given us a lot already this year, but I truly believe he's going to give two or three more touchdown returns the rest of the way.''

Tonight, Vermeil will try to coach his team to a 7-0 record for the first time in his career. His 1981 Eagles started 6-0, then lost in Week 7 at Minnesota, 35-23. His 1999 Rams started 6-0, then lost at Tennessee, 24-21. There's a theme here, people. Perfect start, tough seventh game on the road. "In Philadelphia, they were all tight games,'' Vermeil said, though all weren't; his Eagles won three of those six games by double-digits. "In St. Louis, we were blowing people out [by a combined score of 217-63 in the first six games]. Here, we've been in three gut-wrenchers in a row. It pulls on your emotions.''

Vermeil wears those emotions for everyone to see, which is why I hope he's back in 2004. I'm sure the Chiefs hope so too.

Offensive Player of the Week

San Diego RB LaDainian Tomlinson, whose 200 yards rushing on 26 carries willed the Chargers over the Browns in Cleveland, 26-20. Marty Schottenheimer and his staff may owe their jobs to this man by season's end.

Defensive Player of the Week

New England S Rodney Harrison, for his 12 tackles and the immense leadership he showed during New England's 19-13 overtime win at Miami, when two rookies started alongside him in the Patriots secondary. The Chargers really miss Harrison's guts and guile right now, and the Patriots are finding that his physical and mental presence is the perfect antidote for an injury-ravaged defense.

Special Teams Player of the Week

Philadelphia RB Brian Westbrook. "I had a feeling I was going to get a return," Westbrook said. Good instincts. His 84-yard punt return for touchdown -- against horrible Giants coverage -- with 1:16 left in the fourth quarter lifted the Eagles over the Giants 14-10.

Coach of the Week

Tennessee's Jeff Fisher. All I know is this: Routing a John Fox team in Charlotte, being up 27-3 at the half and winning by a comfy 20 is a tremendous feat these days. For 10 years, Fisher has had his team ready to play every week.

Stat of the Week

The Giants have had 25, 25, 26 and 25 first downs the last four weeks.

"What Johnny Pesky did for relay throws and Bill Buckner did for ground balls, Grady Little did for managing Thursday night at Yankees Stadium.

Pesky hesitated and a World Series was lost. Buckner lifted his glove an instant too soon and another world title evaporated. Now, add Little to the Boston Red Sox' litany of infamy. The second-year manager froze at the switch, leaving his exhausted ace Pedro Martinez on the mound in the eighth inning ... Little ignored a bullpen that had allowed only one run in 16 1/3 innings in this postseason ... Baseball always ensures that such monumental gaffes have their appropriate punishment, no matter how cruel they seem.''

--Washington Post columnist Thomas Boswell after Grady Little's misplaced-blind-trust-in-his-worn-down-ace idiocy enabled the Yankees to beat the Red Sox 6-5 in Game 7 of the ALCS.

Carolina linebacker Will Witherspoon. The rising star has a special relationship with both members of the Panthers family who are currently undergoing cancer treatment -- linebacker Mark Fields and linebackers coach Sam Mills. Fields mentored Witherspoon on the field in 2002 when Mills moved the rookie from outside to inside linebackers to replace the injured Dan Morgan.

MMQB: Do you feel there's been some way Mills and Fields have contributed to your team's strong start, even though Mark hasn't played and Sam can't be around all the time because of his cancer treatments?

Witherspoon: They contribute every day. Our winning is the best medicine for them. If Sam was coaching a group that was failing, how would that make him feel? We're out there getting things done, as a tribute to them.

MMQB: How have Mills and Fields helped you personally?

Witherspoon: Mark knows what's going on. Last year, with me being a rookie, getting thrown in the middle, he'd just say,

"Chill." His No. 1 phrase to me last was: "Just chill." I'd be all wired, all excited, and he'd be like, "Just relax and play". I learned that you have to let your ability flow. Sam? He's been a father figure to me. He knows what buttons to push. He doesn't have to say a lot to get much out of you. He's guided me in the right direction, and really inspired me because he had to take the hard road to get here. He wasn't a first-round pick and didn't have much of a shot coming out of college. When he made me the middle linebacker last year, it was such an honor. Our D-linemen were like: "We're gonna be led by a rookie? Wow." He showed faith in me. He basically said, "You may not be the typical guy, but I think you can do it."

MMQB: You guys wear T-shirts during games with Fields' number (58) and Mills' old number (51) on them. Why?

Witherspoon: We take a little piece of them with us every day, every play, every practice, every game. It's something to make them feel better. Instead of the load on their shoulders, they feel like they have our support. I hope it helps.

At 11 Thursday night in the Boston television market, 79 percent of all televisions that were on were tuned to Red Sox-Yankees.

That's a higher percentage than any of the three Patriots Super Bowl telecasts drew in Boston.

For the first time in 2003, I was given a key -- a real, metal key -- at my hotel Saturday. I would estimate I have spent 80 nights in hotels this year, and at each one I have had to slide those cards in the door to enter my room. Most hotels simply don't have metal keys anymore. But at The Cincinnatian, at the corner of Sixth and Vine in the Queen City, in the old Cincinnati Enquirer neighborhood where I spent the first five years of my sportswriting career, I had a real key.

HEY, YOU FORGOT WARREN MOON. From Mike Weber of Alexandria, Minn.: "Last week, when writing about Peyton Manning, you said it's unimaginable that a quarterback might wind up with 450 touchdown passes and more than 65,000 passing yards. Yet, those are (conservatively) Warren Moon's professional football numbers. (Actually, Moon tossed for more than 73,000 yards in his CFL/NFL career.) I know it's not the same as having spent his whole career in the NFL, but it's still significant, no?''

Significant, yes. The same? Not even close. The CFL is a numbers league played on a much wider field, suitable for points, points and more points.

HEY, LET'S NOT DIS THE BILLS. From Dan Baich of Buffalo: "I take offense at your reference that Indy's Monday night victory against Tampa Baby was the greatest comeback of our time. Let me remind you of January 1993, Houston Oilers at Buffalo Bills, AFC wild-card playoff game. The Bills, minus Jim Kelly and Cornelius Bennett, rally from a 35-3 deficit in the third quarter behind Frank Reich. The Bills eventually win 41-38 in overtime in the greatest comeback in NFL history, and the greatest sporting event I'm sure I will ever witness. Now, 1993 is not that long ago. I would consider it still "our time."

Good points. Let's compare. The Bills, at home, were down to Houston by 32 with 25 minutes to go. The Colts, on the road, were down to Tampa Bay by 21 with five minutes left. To me, the latter is a bigger, and better, comeback.

HEY, YOU OUGHT TO PUT THE RAVENS IN TAMPA BAY'S LEAGUE. From Chris Stoner of Baltimore: "You wrote, 'Tampa is the best defense of its day, and maybe any day.' Comparing eras is subjective at best, but why are we left to assume that you think the Bucs' '02 Super Bowl D is better then the Ravens '00 Super Bowl D?''

I don't think that. I believe the Ravens defense in 2000 is the best single-season unit of the last 15 years. But the Bucs defense has been better for a longer period. Think about this for a minute: Last year, only three NFL teams -- the Bucs, Eagles and Giants -- allowed fewer than 300 points during the season. And it was the Bucs' seventh straight year in which they allowedyeah fewer than 300.

HEY: STOP BEING THE PRESIDENT OF PEYTON MANNING'S FAN CLUB. From Linda Carroll of Winston-Salem, N.C.: "Are you aware that your sorrow over Peyton Manning's loss in the Panthers-Colts game shortchanges Carolina's victory? Shame on you for cheating the Panthers because of your concern for Manning.''

I have felt shame a few times in my life. However, with all due respect, ma'am, I will not feel shame for choosing a topic for "Monday Morning Quarterback."

1. I think these are my quick-hit thoughts of the NFL weekend:

a. We really don't appreciate how good Ahman Green is.

b. I never thought that in Week 7 I'd be writing that the Falcons look like the worst team in football. I mean, they might be worse than Arizona.

c. I don't see how Dan Reeves can survive beyond December.

d. I have it on very good authority, re: Warren Sapp being signed by the NFL Network and getting fined $50,000 for abusing officials and then calling the NFL a "slave master" all in the same week, that, in the NFL office, the left hand is not really familiar with what the right hand is doing.

e. I thought you were making progress, Steve Mariucci. The Sports Illustrated correspondent in Detroit, Mike O'Hara, told me last night that the 38-7 stinker to the Cowboys was the worst effort from the Lions that he's seen in 35 years covering the team.

f. Apparently, Travis Henry had a message for Willis McGahee on Sunday.

g. I feel guilty about not putting Tennessee No. 1 on my Fine Fifteen list. What a performance against the previously unbeaten Panthers at Carolina on Sunday by the Titans.

h. Donovan McNabb is down in the Kyle Boller stratosphere. Sixty-four passing yards against the Giants on Sunday? I saw Jon Kitna throw for nine more than that in seven seconds Sunday.

i. Do something, Andy Reid.

j. The Chargers rush for 228 in Cleveland, a month after the Ravens rushed for 343 on the Browns. I sense a pattern here, Butch Davis.

2a. I think I apologize in advance for making you feel my Red Sox pain, and I am not a reactionary sort normally, but Grady Little must go. For the Red Sox to bring the unsigned manager back in 2004 would be downright stupid. Because that's what Little was Thursday night in the eighth inning of Game 7 of the American League Championship Series between the Red Sox and Yankees. Stupid. To review for all of you not in the middle of this mind-blowing maelstrom: Bottom of the eighth, Boston 5, New York 2. If Pedro Martinez allows one baserunner, Grady has to pull him. Boston bullpen's been so great lately, allowing only one run in the entire postseason. After retiring the leadoff batter, Derek Jeter hits a ringing double off Martinez.

Pedro's gassed. Go get him, Grady! Get him! Nope. "Get off your ass!" I yell to Little. Bernie Williams then laces an RBI single to center. Boston 5, New York 3. OK, Hideki Matsui's up. Left-hander Alan Embree is warming in the pen. He's been ready for 15 minutes. Here comes Little, finally. He talks to Pedro. Evidently he asks the right-hander if he still has anything left in the tank. Pedro says later: "He asked me if I had enough left in the tank. I said yes. I never say no. I always want to stay in there.'' So Little lets him stay. I am outraged. I am not saying nice things. Matsui goes down 0-2, then lines a shot to right for a ground-rule double. So now there's second and third and one out.

Jorge Posada is due up. "Get him! Bring in Mike Timlin!'' I am yelling. "I BEG YOU! GO GET TIMLIN! NOW!'' But Little stays in the dugout. Posada promptly fists a double to center. Boston 5, New York 5. Now Little goes to the pen, and, of course, the pen gets out of the jam, which it would have done had it been called upon when Jeter was on second and the score was 5-2.

The Red Sox lost, yes. But that team didn't lose. LET ME STRESS THIS RIGHT NOW FOR EVERYONE WHO DOES NOT HAVE THE SICKNESS I HAVE: THIS IS WORSE THAN BUCKY DENT IN '78, WORSE THAN BILL BUCKNER IN '86 BECAUSE OF ONE VERY SIMPLE REASON: The players did not lose this game. The manager lost it. And one more point: How could you not know your ace pitcher is going to say he's fine even when he isn't? You don't know him that well? Well, you should. There's a fine line between showing faith in your ace and being too chicken to take him out, and that's what Little was.

I credit him for being a standup guy, particularly in the face of the Manny Ramirez's Labor Day Weekend blowup. But if you're Red Sox brass this morning, you have to obviously look toward next year with some sense of optimism, and how horrible would it be when the lineups are introduced on Opening Day 2004 at Fenway when the crowd boos the living snot out of the home team manager with venom normally reserved only for the Yankees?

2b. Funny how Roger Clemens' absolute failure in Game 7 has become a meaningless asterisk.

2c. I was out Friday night in my hometown of Montclair, N.J.., and someone I met asked me, "How can you stick with [the Red Sox] after this? How many broken hearts can you take?'' I mumbled something about being loyal, but then I thought about it for a while.

I think it goes back to being 6, in 1963, and going to my first game at Fenway, a 90-mile drive from my home in Connecticut, with my family and walking up the tunnel underneath the rotting grandstand and being so open-mouthed shocked at seeing the field for the first time and smelling the grass and the hot dogs and the beer and the popcorn all mixed together, and sitting for two hours in the rain waiting for a Red Sox-Yankees showdown (in those days, there were plenty of good seats still available), and thinking how beautiful it was and seeing the wall in person and thinking how majestic it was, and then almost every spring and summer Saturday of my youth riding in the car with my father the ironworker to get the papers at a little newspaper store in our Connecticut hometown, Enfield, and devouring every word on the Red Sox, and sitting there on Friday nights and Sundays with my father watching them, and then dreaming of replacing Carl Yastrzemski one day in left field, and later dreaming that if I couldn't replace Yaz maybe I could write about them for the Globe, and thinking how the luckiest person on the planet must be Peter Gammons because he got to see them every day in person, and then going to Ohio University and being the only person in the basement of my dorm in the big TV room rooting for them against Cincinnati in the '75 Series, and how I almost hit my head on the ceiling when Carlton Fisk hit the home run in Game 6, and then, in the intervening years, trying to make sure I saw them a couple of times every year, either in Boston or when I not-so-secretly arranged an SI road trip around a Red Sox trip to Oakland or Seattle or somewhere, and then thinking nothing of going from Indianapolis at dawn to Charlotte for the afternoon to Boston at night in order to catch Game 4 of the ALCS and feeling so high walking out of Fenway after a win, just about as happy, at 46, as a grownup can be. Forty years. You might call them 40 heartbreaking years. I call them 40 wonderful years with a few heartbreaks that make me realize how much this game is like life. That is why I will buy the digital cable baseball package next spring, and why I will find a way to see a few innings of at least 80 Red Sox games next year. I don't get divorced if my wife cracks up the car. I don't divorce my baseball team if the manager blows the pennant.

3. I think the Giants' special teams are going to get people fired, and if they continue to stink like this -- for example, Brian Westbrook taking that punt all the way to beat New York with less than two minutes remaining Sunday -- one of those casualties could be Jim Fassel.

4. I think I am so sick of hearing about Bruce Smith chasing the "all-time sack record.'' Not that it isn't an admirable pursuit, and not that Smith hasn't been a great player for a long time. But here's my point: The NFL is 84 years old. Sacks have been an official stat for 22 years. How, then, can the NFL call Smith's chase of Reggie White for the top spot on the list -- White has 198, Smith 196.5 -- the race for "all-time" sack leadership? Since when is 25 percent of NFL history "all time?''

5. I think these are more of my non-football thoughts of the week:

a. Bob Ryan and Dan Shaughnessy have written some great, great columns over the years for the Boston Globe, but they never have been as consistently outstanding as they have been in the last week, particularly on Friday and Saturday. What great writers.

b. Coffeenerdness: I confess. I am an addict. I found that out Friday when I downed a triple venti hazelnut latte, and two grande hazelnut lattes, all by 4 p.m. Seven shots of espresso, which I do believe is a Peter King record.

c. Montclair (N.J.) Field Hockey Note of the Week: They lost. They lost a hard-fought, competitive game to a classy team, Oak Knoll, on a penalty stroke late in the second half last Tuesday, 2-1. Tough way to lose, on a stroke, but it's part of the game. Now, after two more wins last week -- 4-0 over Hackensack, and 5-0 over Columbia in the semifinals of the Essex County Field Hockey Tournament Saturday at Montclair State -- the Mounties are 11-1-0. After three tough league games this week, the next mega-game comes against the state's fourth-rated team, longtime county rival West Essex in the county finals Saturday at Livingston High. I loved how the coach, Mary Pat Mercuro, reacted to the loss to Oak Knoll. She told the players she'd rather see them play five tough games like this one because these are the ones that make you better. Lombardi couldn't have said it better, coach. On Friday night, I came home to find Mary Beth making an inspirational card for her linemate, Jacqueline Connor. These girls are so cute. They fire each other up with little hairbands or key chains or cards or giant cookies with blue icing all the time, and Mary Beth went on some inspirational-sports-sayings Web site to find some things for Jacq. God, do I love high school sports. This is one of the passages Mary Beth wrote on the card: "For me, winning isn't something that happens suddenly on the field when the whistle blows and the crowds roar. Winning is something that builds physically and mentally every day that you train and every night that you dream.'' I said to Mary Beth: "I love that one. Who said it?'' And she said ... (Suspense! See if you can guess. Answer later in this column.)

d. Sorry, baseball. My investment for the year is over.

6. I think that was Vinny Testaverde's last NFL start Sunday. I was glad to see him rally the Jets back from a 14 point deficit to a 19-14 win. You've been a tremendous soldier, Vinny. Now it's time for Chad Pennington to take back the reins.

7. I think the Detroit Lions might never get fixed.

8. I think Quincy Carter probably has changed the minds of the majority of his doubters, even though his three-touchdown half came against Detroit. When Bill Parcells said this was the best group of receivers he's ever had, he meant it.

9. I think the Randy Moss play, the one of him lateraling the ball blindly to Moe Williams for a touchdown Sunday, will be the first or second highlight that ESPN shows in July 2016, when Moss is inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

10. I think the answer to Mary Beth's inspirational-card-question stunned me. "Emmitt Smith,'' she said. My old buddy. You know what? Emmitt's right. You don't show up and win. You work and work and work, and then you dream, and then you win. Cornier words may never have been spoken, I know. But truer words have never been spoken either, people.

1. Kansas City (6-0). Vermeil would be wise to take his team on a field trip into the Embarcadero in San Francisco for an early lunch at Tadich Grill, one of the best restaurants in the history of the world. You know you want to go there, Dick. Just tell everyone it's a team unity lunch.

2. Minnesota (6-0). The Vikings' last loss: Dec. 8, 2002, to Green Bay.

3. Indianapolis (5-1). Peyton Manning missed football so much during his bye week that he played touch football Sunday morning in his backyard, then went inside to watch all the pregame shows followed by the actual games, and then fell asleep with the Madden 2004 controls in his hands.

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4. Tennessee (5-2). The Titans have changed into a passing team, and apparently a very good one, before our very eyes.

5. Carolina (5-1). Classic mulligan.

6. Tampa Bay (3-3). This is me being nice to the Bucs. They don't deserve to be here. But if you ask me who I think would win between the Bucs and any team lower on this list, I would still say the Bucs. They are are wearing me out, however.

7. New England (5-2). The Pats have done the most amazing job of playing -- and winning -- with kids that I've ever seen.

8. St. Louis (4-2). Brett Favre said after the Rams beat the Pack 34-24 that he thought St. Louis' defense was almost as good as Tampa Bay's. I'm not sure that's a compliment these days.

9. Dallas (5-1). "Do not confuse a good start with a good team," Bill Parcells said the other day. Do not confuse Grady Little with baseball competency, Bill.

10. Miami (4-2). Olindo Mare missed his winning OT field goal by two inches.

11. Denver (5-2). Hold the fort, Steve Beuerlein. Can you play with a dislocated pinkie?

12. Seattle (5-1). I would like the 'Hawks to dominate someone good before I believe.

13. Philadelphia (3-3). I didn't see it, but I hear Sunday's Eagles-Giants tilt set pro football back 63 years.

14. San Francisco (3-4). Imagine if Terrell Owens had caught the three he missed.

15. Buffalo (4-3). Travis Henry got going against Washington, which is vital to the Bills' future.

Playing at Oakland is a trap game for the Chiefs. Vermeil's right. His team isn't playing faultless football. It's 26th in the league in team defense. The Chiefs have allowed 23 and 34 points, respectively, the last two weeks. Now Dante Hall's dinged. The season is on the line for the Raiders. Remember the old Parcells mantra: In football, the desperate team usually wins.

But I will pick Kansas City because of one person: Trent Green. Not many people think he's a top-five NFL quarterback. I do. And he'll play like it tonight. My pick: Kansas City, 24-23.

Sports Illustrated senior writer Peter King covers the NFL beat for the magazine and is a regular contributor to SI.com. Monday Morning Quarterback appears in this space every week.