Former Kansas City Chiefs coach Dick Vermeil nominated for Pro Football Hall of Fame
Former Chiefs coach Dick Vermeil is one step away from being enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Vermeil was chosen Tuesday as the Coach Finalist for the Class of 2022 by nine members of the Hall of Fame’s Senior Committee, the Hall announced.
“I am overwhelmed. I’m not sure I belong there,” Vermeil said in a news release. He added that the committee had his “deepest appreciation and gratitude.”
Kansas City was Vermeil’s final coaching stop, and the Chiefs had a 44-36 record in five seasons under his guidance (2001-05). The 2003 Chiefs owned the AFC’s best record at 13-3, but lost in the “no-punt” game to Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts.
Last month, former Chiefs general manager Carl Peterson asked Kansas City Star columnist Vahe Gregorian to pen a note to the Hall of Fame’s Senior Committee on Vermeil’s behalf.
That column noted former Chiefs coaches and assistants Marv Levy, Herm Edwards, Bill Cowher and Al Saunders have joined current KC coach Andy Reid in writing letters to the Hall of Fame on Vermeil’s behalf. Ditto for former NFL quarterbacks Trent Green and Kurt Warner.
“I hear many people say they judge a Hall of Famer according to the old adage, ‘Could we write the history of the game without them in it?’ ” Warner wrote. “I know for a fact the history of two storied franchises, the Eagles and the Rams, could not be written without him!”
It was with Warner that Vermeil had his greatest success as the Rams won Super Bowl XXXIV after a 13-3 regular season in 1999. That Rams team, nicknamed the “Greatest Show on Turf,” is considered one of the best in NFL history.
After hoisting the Lombardi Trophy, Vermeil retired after just three years in St. Louis. It was his second retirement.
The first came after seven seasons coaching the Philadelphia Eagles (1976-82). The Eagles had not had a winning season in nine years when Vermeil took over in the City of Brotherly Love.
In Vermeil’s third season, Philadelphia qualified for the postseason, and made their first Super Bowl appearance in 1980. The Eagles lost to the Raiders in Super Bowl XV. One of Oakland’s receivers in that game was Cliff Branch, who was named a Senior Finalist for the Hall of Fame on Tuesday.
The Eagles made four straight playoff appearances under Vermeil but had a 3-6 record in the strike-shortened 1982 season. That’s when Vermeil stepped down and soon found a second calling as a television broadcaster.
Vermeil’s record was 120-109 in 15 seasons as an NFL head coach, but each of his three stops were rebuilding efforts. As Gregorian noted, Vermeil had a combined 32-60 record in his first two seasons with the Eagles, Rams and Chiefs. His record after that was 88-49.
To be enshrined, the Hall of Fame said Vermeil, 84, needs to get 80% of the vote from the 49-member Selection Committee when it meets ahead of Super Bowl LVI.
That committee will consider 18 finalists: the Coach (Vermeil), the Senior (Branch), a Contributor (to be named Aug. 31) and 15 Modern-Era Finalists. By rule, between four and eight people are selected.
“Branch and Vermeil will be voted on for election independent of the other Finalists,” the Hall noted.
