ASHBURN, Va. -- Chuck Knox, the only coach to win division titles in the NFL with three different teams, is in his 41st season on the sidelines.
"I've enjoyed it all," Knox said. "This is all I've ever done."
The Los Angeles Rams coach, though, hasn't enjoyed the 41st season as much as he did the first 40.
Not only is his team losing for the third straight year, but his status is up in the air because of the proposed move of the team to St. Louis.
"I can say this is not fun, I'll tell you that," he said.
He added, "I don't like losing. I hate that. We've won every place we've been. This is the first time [he hasn't turned a program around]. This has been a real challenge."
He won five straight division titles in his first stint with the Rams, but he was fired by the late Carroll Rosenbloom after the 1977 season for not making the Super Bowl.
He then built division title teams in Buffalo and Seattle before Rosenbloom's widow, Georgia Frontiere, brought him back to the Rams three years ago. This time, he has found it more difficult to build a winning team. Going into the season finale against the Washington Redskins on Saturday, the club is 4-11.
"It's a big disappointment not getting this program turned around in three years," he said.
This year, all the speculation about the possible move hasn't helped.
"I would like to tell you it hasn't affected us . . . . [but] I know this: If someone were to tell you that your newspaper or your station or whatever it is, 'We're closing this plant and we're going to move halfway across the country,' I'm sure when you went home at night, your wife and the two kids in school who like the neighbors, like the school, like the climate are going to ask, 'Are we moving?' It's been a distraction. There isn't any question about that."
That's made it difficult for Knox, too.
"It's been the toughest year I've had in coaching and the most unsuccessful. It's been a struggle," he said.
If this is the end for Knox, 62, it's not the way he envisioned retiring and it won't be easy to walk away, although he hasn't asked where he stands.
"I think I'll miss it. I'll miss the association with the players. I'll miss coming in with the coaches, everything that goes with it. I don't think you do something for as long as I've done it and enjoyed it and walk away from it and not miss it," he said.
Knox said he knows there won't be a big crowd -- probably fewer than 30,000 -- at Anaheim Stadium for the finale.
"It's the day before Christmas and we're not having a good year," he said.
The talk of a move is difficult on the players, too.
Running back Jerome Bettis said, "I like L.A. I like the city. No one wants to just up and leave. It's a difficult situation."
Bettis, though, doesn't blame the fans for not being more supportive, even though it was a change from Notre Dame where he always played in front of sellout crowds.
"When you don't give them a quality product, it's hard for the fans to appreciate it. The bottom line is we're a form of entertainment. If it's not entertaining, who wants to see it? We haven't been winning games and it hasn't been a fun sight to see. I can definitely understand why people would not want to come out," Bettis said.