MANKATO, Minn. -- Dick Vermeil promised Carl Peterson three years. Being 64 at the time, Vermeil wasn't going to come out of retirement for a five-year rebuilding job. In three years, he turned the Rams into Super Bowl champs, and three years was as much as he wanted to commit to doing the same for the Chiefs.

It's Year 3, and a Super Bowl or bust mentally permeates River Falls, Wis., summer home of the Kansas City Chiefs. As he did in 1999, Vermeil sneered at forecasts of a last-place finish with a team he believed had a chance at greatness. Quarterback Trent Green, whom Vermeil planned to build his Rams Super Bowl run around, is in a zone throwing the football. All of the skilled players from the league's highest scoring offense in 2002 are back and clicking.

"I feel better about this team going in to the third year than I did about the Rams team as far as chemistry because they (the Rams) were still not sure we were doing things right," Vermeil said. "These guys here have bought in faster. We have real good leadership. I think it's going to be a good football team."

	The health of Priest Holmes could well determine how successful the Chiefs are in '03.

The names are different as are the uniforms, but the Chiefs look like their "Show Me" state rivals. Receivers practice at full speed to simulate the timing of their routes with the quarterback. Priest Holmes fills the Marshall Faulk role in the offense by breaking runs for touchdowns and turning "check down" tosses into first downs. The playbook is so thick with schemes that new players would need a tutor to catch up.

"Everybody is comfortable with this offense," Pro Bowl tight end Tony Gonzalez said. "There are no new starters on this offense. We know this offense. We know it well. The question is how good can we become, and the sky is the limit as far as I'm concerned."

Go back to last year at this time. Gonzalez was a holdout. Johnnie Morton was learning the flanker position. Vermeil had no idea who would be his slot receiver, but he kept putting returner Dante Hall in there occasionally and he kept making plays. People around the league were still scratching their heads over Eddie Kennison being the Chiefs potential featured receiver. Tall, big play receiver Marc Boerigter was entering his first NFL season and was sidelined with an appendectomy and the tackle situation was unsettled.

Willie Roaf was moving over from the Saints. His knee was sore and his body was still getting in shape during camp. John Tait looked so bad learning the right tackle position that coaches wondered whether he could simply line up.

But something clicked. Green had a breakout year. Holmes was phenomenal. Roaf produced another Pro Bowl season and Tait solidified an offensive line that didn't miss a play and was probably the best in football. Hall became the Chiefs' Az-Zahir Hakim. The Chiefs averaged 29 points a game and 375 yards a game on offense.

This year, they are better.

"We look sharp," Green said. "When you have things this good, you have to find ways to keep everybody happy. I've got to find a way to get Tony Gonzalez the ball. Every time Dante touches the ball, he scores. I have to find a way to get the ball to Johnnie Morton. The hard part is keeping everybody happy. The great thing is that we don't have selfish people."

The great thing is that the Chiefs have Vermeil. To think that the 1999 Rams almost staged a mutiny because they thought Vermeil was working them too hard. Vermeil believes in pace, tempo, explosiveness. He has developed a formula for turning around franchises. In Year 1, he weeds out the losers. In Year 2, he establishes a work ethic. In Year 3, everything comes together, but most importantly, Green is on fire as a thrower.

"Sometimes it's almost scary seeing the zone Trent is in throwing the ball," Vermeil said. "He walks off the field and might not have thrown an incompletion that day. A couple days ago, our defense couldn't do anything."

Green showed similar efficiency attacking the Vikings defense during a two-day scrimmage in River Falls.

	“	Everybody is comfortable with this offense. There are no new starters on this offense. We know this offense. We know it well. The question is how good can we become, and the sky is the limit as far as I'm concerned.”
		—Tight end Tony Gonzalez

"I couldn't tell you tell you what the change is, but the way Trent is throwing the ball is a whole lot better than before," Gonzalez said. "What (it says) is that this is going to be his year. He's going to go to the Pro Bowl this year. He has guys around him to get it done. He's got lot of options and the talent to get it done."

Like the Rams, the Chiefs have great comeback stories. Green sat as a backup quarterback for seven years before anyone realized he could be throwing at a Pro Bowl level. Holmes was an afterthought behind Jamal Lewis on the Ravens Super Bowl team. Kennison was the well-traveled underachiever who retired as a Denver Bronco. But no Chief is a better comeback story than Vermeil, who is coming back from retirement to take his third franchise to the Super Bowl.

"Everybody's heard it could be his last year, but I don't think anyone wants to believe that," Morton said. "Of course, if he's going to leave, we want to him to leave with a ring."

"He's class; he knows how to bring this team together," Gonzalez said. "Our goal is to win the whole thing this year. We are trying to forget about the names on the back of our jersey and go for the names on the front. Right now we are playing the best football we've ever played. I think if we do what we think we are going to do this year, (this is) probably going to be his last year."

Vermeil simply doesn't know. Before camp started, his wife asked him about next year and he said he didn't know.

"Everybody knew it was three years," Vermeil said. "I don't know. My basic thought is if I'm pleased with the job that I do as head coach, I might do it more. If I'm not please and we are as not as good as I think we are going to be, then I owe it to Lamar Hunt, Carl Peterson and my football players to step down and let somebody else do it. One advantage is to be in a position at the age of 67 that I am not.worried about my next job."

What would be ashame is if the Chiefs make the playoffs and fall short of the Super Bowl for the Chiefs to undergo a coaching change. The offense is three years in the making and is peaking. From the running game to the passing game, the Chiefs mirror the Rams.

Perhaps the biggest change is on defense. Defensive coordinator Greg Robinson simplified the scheme to make it easier for younger players to execute. They are playing a few more safe zones, but they are also more skilled at certain positions. Vonnie Holliday was signed from Green Bay to provide help at defensive end. Dexter McCleon, a cornerback from St. Louis, could challenge for a starting job but at the very worst is that he could be one of the more valuable third cornerbacks in football.

The biggest signing was outside linebacker Shawn Barber, who adds experience and speed to a linebacking unit that was slow last season.

"We may not have a flashy pass rush but we have a more powerful pass rush," Vermeil said. "We should be able to move back the pocket. We run better on defense. Barber is an instinctive football player. I think he's going to end up being the best weak-side linebacker the Chiefs have had in the long time."

The other major part of the Chiefs season is the recovery of Holmes from offseason hip surgery. It's easy to see watching him run that he's fine. The Chiefs are limiting the number of times that Holmes is involved in contract drills, but he's showing the same speed and timing on pass plays and running plays.

"You'll see flashes of things over the conditioning period where you'll say, 'he's back, '" Holmes said. "Right now, I'm on a controlled approach coming back from an injury. There were five months when everyone else in football is taking a break at the end of July. For me, I'm out there still getting in condition. I missed about five months of conditioning. There is a gap."

But when he sees that gap, Holmes darts through it. Former Jaguars coach Tom Coughlin spent five days watching the Chiefs and reported to his friends and Chiefs management that he thinks the Chiefs are loaded. Vermeil agrees, but, in the last year of his contract, it's time to show it.

John Clayton is a senior writer for ESPN.com.