Report: Vermeil To Stay With Rams

Dick Vermeil will get at least another year as coach of the struggling St. Louis Rams.

Rams president John Shaw has told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that plans call for Vermeil to be back next year.

"At this point we are not planning on changing our head coach," Shaw told the newspaper Monday night. "I can't imagine anything that will change our mind, or at least change my mind. After discussing this with both owners, the view is that we will not change coaches at this time."

Shaw said he will meet with Vermeil in early January to discuss some of the changes Vermeil has in mind for the football team.

Vermeil said he wasn't worried about his future with the team.

"Nah, I'm not concerned at all," the beleaguered St. Louis Rams coach said Monday, a day after a 20-13 loss to Carolina. "I'm really not. I don't worry about those things."

That said, he said he wouldn't have been shocked if team president John Shaw had told him after the season that he was going to make a change. Vermeil is 9-22 in two seasons with the Rams, the losingest team in the NFL in the 1990s, and has three years to go on a five-year, $9 million contract.

Dick Vermeil, who will reportedly return to coach St. Louis in 1999, chats with Rams owner Georgia Frontiere after a recent game. (AP)

"I don't think anyone is shocked in coaching if they are fired and they only won four or ive games," Vermeil said. "That depends on ownership and management, not me.

Vermeil hasn't been able to stop the downward slide in victories since the team moved to St. Louis in 1995 with a 4-11 record. He's often said rebuilding takes time, but Rich Brooks coached 7-9 and 6-10 teams in '95 and '96 before getting fired.

After ending a 14-year absence from coaching, Vermeil was 5-11 last year and will have to pull off an upset at playoff-bound San Francisco on Sunday to match that. The Rams have hit a few high notes, like the 30-10 victory over the New York Jets in Week 5 and the 32-18 victory over New England in Week 14, but have yet to win on successive weeks and have lost twice to Carolina, which has only three victories and also has a coach, Dom Capers, in trouble.

Vermeil said there's a lot of hope for next season, given the Rams played most of the year without injured wide receiver Isaac Bruce, running back Greg Hill and tight end Ernie Conwell, and have a load of young players.

"I'll tell you this, Isaac Bruce makes me look smarter," Vermeil said. "Those kind of guys make a difference."

He's often asserted that the Rams have a playoff-caliber defense that has been put under the gun by a puny offense. The Rams lead the NFL in pass defense, although they've allowed 26 touchdowns in the air -- tied for the second-worst in the league.

He wasn't about to blame them for surrendering two big plays, including the game-winning 68-yard touchdown pass from Steve Beuerlein to Luther Broughton with 2:44 to go. Several Rams also jumped offside late in the first half, giving the Panthers an opening to score on a 3-yard touchdown pass from Beuerlein to Muhsin Muhammad.

"Defensively, you can't ask them to do much more than they did," Vermeil said. "Our defense should not be held hostage to the point where it is a one or two play thing.

"You can't believe the tempo with which they play."

The 49ers' 11-4 record is the exact opposite of the Rams, and they've beaten St. Louis 16 straight times. Despite the Rams' discouragement over the Carolina loss, Vermeil has high hopes.

"They get to play against one of the best teams in the country," he said. "If we could find a way to upset them, it would be a great way to go into the off-season. Sooner or later, the Rams are going to beat them. Streaks don't last forever."

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