Carl Peterson says he will return for a 20th year running the Kansas City Chiefs despite a disappointing season that left many fans unhappy.
"We have a plan and it's being implemented," the Chiefs president and general manager told The Associated Press Monday in a telephone interview from his office at Arrowhead Stadium. "I have no intention to leave before the job is finished."
A 13-10 overtime loss to the equally hapless New York Jets ended Kansas City's season on a nine-game losing streak with a 4-12 record. It's the longest skid in a non-strike year in team history and the Chiefs' worst record in almost 30 years.
In New York on Sunday after the Jets game, Peterson told The Kansas City Star that coach Herm Edwards also would be back.
Team co-owner Clark Hunt, who took over leadership of the Chiefs in late 2006 after the death of his father, team founder Lamar Hunt, did not comment Sunday.
But Peterson clearly has been assured that he will return for what figures to be a major retooling of the team and coaching staff.
The bottom fell out in Edwards' second season, and Kansas City is further from the Super Bowl than it has been at anytime during Peterson's reign. Fan interest also is lower than anytime since the late 1980s.
As many as 20 players could be gone next year from the aging team that scored fewer points than any Kansas City squad in a 16-game season.
"We're devastated. But we are not discouraged," Peterson said Monday. "We know where we're going and what we're going to do."
Peterson said he was most disappointed for Hunt, who shares ownership with his sister and two brothers, none of whom has taken a leadership role in the franchise.
"Clark is as discouraged as any one of us. I feel bad for Clark because this is his first year as the leader of the new ownership group," Peterson said. "We are going forward in 2008."
Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved
