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SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Oddly, there are questions about Steve Mariucci's future with the San Francisco 49ers. Maybe Bill Walsh is coming back in a front office role. Maybe not. Who's in charge, anyway?

	Despite a 26-8 record, Niners coach Steve Mariucci could be coaching his last game Sunday.

"That's a good question," Mariucci said Monday, trying to answer who would even make the decision to re-hire the 67-year-old Walsh should the Hall of Fame coach want to rejoin the organization he led to three Super Bowl wins in the 1980s.

Even as the 49ers (12-4) began preparations to host the Green Bay Packers (11-5) in Sunday's wild-card playoff game, Mariucci confronted questions about his deadlocked contract extension talks and rumors about his job security.

Running back Terry Kirby said he thought it was unfair Mariucci had to even deal with that kind of speculation.

"I think it's a joke," Kirby said. "I definitely think he's established himself as a winning coach."

Despite Mariucci's 26-8 record in two seasons as San Francisco's coach, including a 17-1 mark at home, there has been speculation Sunday's game could amount to a referendum on his future with the 49ers. His only home loss came to the Packers in last January's NFC title game.

Much of the rumors have centered on the possibility Green Bay coach Mike Holmgren could leave to take on a dual role of coach-general manager with the 49ers and that would mean Mariucci would be the odd man out.

"It's what we deal with as coaches," said Mariucci. "So, you just bury yourself in game preparation and you do the best you can. If that's good enough, great. If that's not good enough, then that's not up to me to decide."

On top of that, the 49ers ownership picture remains unresolved and no permanent replacements have been named for either Carmen Policy, who quit as team president in July, or general manager Dwight Clark, who left earlier this month to join Policy as an executive with the new Cleveland Browns franchise.

Larry Thrailkill took over as 49ers president, and John McVay came out of retirement to replace Clark, but both are working for the 49ers on an interim basis. That has contributed to the impression the 49ers are adrift, unable to make commitments or act with decisiveness.

"We need to hire a front office, a permanent front office," Mariucci said.

In the meantime, Denise DeBartolo York has overseen team operations from a distance while her brother, Eddie DeBartolo, waits to hear if he'll be reinstated by the league as the 49ers' active owner. A decision could come by February.

DeBartolo ceded control of the team to his sister a year ago to battle legal problems stemming from a Louisiana gambling fraud probe.

Clearly weary of the swirl of speculation, Mariucci said he didn't know when or if Walsh would return but that it could happen and that a front-office role for him might be a good thing.

"Will it work, I don't know," Marriuci said. "I don't know exactly what the plan is. I don't know if really anybody does, but it's a possibility."

"If Bill and John (McVay) can get the right people in place and take us through these few months while the ownership situation resolves itself that might be the best thing in the world."

Mariucci also declared his talks on a contract extension -- he's finishing the second year of a five-year, $4 million contract -- have been put on the back burner until after the season, and he wouldn't talk about it again this week.

"We'll handle it when the season is over," Mariucci said. "We need to play some football. We need to prepare for some football. It would be unfair to my team for me to continue talking about something that is really an issue that needs to be dealt with later on."

Quarterback Steve Young said players have tried to keep the focus on the field although they've had to fight plenty of distractions from the start.

"There's been a lot," said Young, recalling that on the first day of training camp the team was awakened for a midnight meeting to inform them Policy had quit.

"I give the players in this room a lot of credit," he said. "We keep winning. That's how we solve our problems around here, keep winning, so that's what we have to focus on this week. If we win, we solve our own problems."