The Bengals' last game of the season is Sunday in Philadelphia, but Dick LeBeau doesn't know if it will be his last game as coach.

        And if club president Mike Brown chooses not to hire him, LeBeau won't complain, even though he wants the job.

        “No, I'm blessed. We've expressed publicly that we'd like to do it, and we will honor whatever decision is made,” LeBeau said Monday. “The owner has a lot going in this decision, and we will accept, honestly, without a whimper.”

        Brown apparently will wait until after the Eagles game to announce LeBeau's fate. Brown wants to see the same effort the Bengals displayed Sunday when they rallied to defeat Jacksonville 17-14. The two men have not yet talked about next year, but LeBeau indicated he has a message from Brown.

        “Yeah — beat Philadelphia,” LeBeau said. “And I think that's enough.”

        Neither Brown nor his secretary returned calls Monday.

        “In The Wizard of Oz, when the wicked witch had Dorothy in front of her, she said, "All in good time, my pretty. All in good time,”' LeBeau said. “That will happen. I suppose if it doesn't happen, that will tell too, but it'll happen.”

        LeBeau was one of two interim coaches in the NFL until Monday. Arizona gave Dave McGinnis, who's 1-7, a four-year contract extension.

        LeBeau is 4-8, one of the 24-13 over McGinnis' Cardinals, yet his future remains cloudy.

        LeBeau, 63, is the oldest rookie NFL head coach since the league merged with the AFL in 1970. LeBeau hinted his age might work against him, but his players say age doesn't matter.

        “He just has that long, deep cool, one of the coolest guys I know as far as just his mentality,” defensive tackle Oliver Gibson said Monday. “He does his own thing. He's always prepared. He seldom looks pressured. That's what you need in a leader.”

        Linebacker Takeo Spikes and right tackle Willie Anderson are organizing a formal approach to Brown. Gibson supports it.

        “I don't want any letters or faxes from a new head coach,” Gibson said. “That's me personally. I think a lot of my teammates feel the same. I don't see how you could not. It doesn't seem to me like there's a choice. It's the obvious choice. I like what we have here, and in order to build, we've got to keep the train moving in the direction it is.”

        LeBeau, Bengals defensive coordinator since 1997 and an NFL assistant coach for 27 years, was promoted Sept. 25 when Bruce Coslet resigned.

        Defensive end Michael Bankston remembers the day LeBeau took over.

        “He had an idea, a long time ago, I'm pretty sure, whenever that opportunity presented itself,” Bankston said. “He came in and he knew he wanted a look, a professional look, a will to win and the idea that we can win.

        “He changed personnel in different positions. He said the best man is going to play on the field, and that's what he did. It's a definite uplift. I believe the guys believe in each other. They know they can win. He deserves another opportunity to showcase what he can do from camp.”

        LeBeau didn't attempt to conceal what his players' support means to him.

        “It's great. I won't sugarcoat that,” he said. “As a coach, it's been very rewarding. Whatever occurs, that will unquestionably be the highlight of this experience.

        LeBeau was asked in many different ways what he would do if he were coach next season. He politely declined to speculate because it had not happened.

        “It's not worth wasting our time on,” he said. “I would answer only that I would be Dick LeBeau. The experience I've had in football, which is considerable, would be applied diligently toward the things I believe.”

        LeBeau wants “to return this football team, this franchise, to the position that it was held in the past. I am fortunate enough to have lived through some great eras in Cincinnati, twice in the Super Bowl, many times divisional champs, many times playoff teams. When teams used to come into Cincinnati and play, it was a feared situation. We want to return that to our football team.”

        LeBeau was a Bengals assistant when the team went to the Super Bowl in 1981. He was defensive coordinator when Cincinnati was in the 1988 Super Bowl. He was defensive coordinator for the Steelers when they went to the Super Bowl in 1995, but the bulk of LeBeau's NFL coaching experience — 16 seasons — is in Cincinnati.

        He has one regret about the 2000 season and his 12 games as head coach.

        “I wish we would have won a heck of a lot more games,” he said. “In some respects, we've helped in that manner, but we haven't gotten to where we want to get. I'm proud of our players. I'm proud of our coaches. We've got one more game to go. We want to finish positively.”

No word, no worries for LeBeau Warrick's TDs put him in record book Bengals would draft fifth

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