River Falls, Wis.—Perhaps it’s a little early to be talking about the Super Bowl. Fans—and so-called experts, for that matter—rarely nail pre-season predictions by the time the playoffs roll around. But to hear Dick Vermeil talk, the Chiefs have to believe they’re a Super Bowl contender, regardless of predictions. After Thursday morning’s practice, Vermeil told his team not to “wind-down” even though they break camp after a work out Saturday morning. He informed the team that they can wind down after the Super Bowl. After practice, Vermeil told reporters, “If your goals aren’t high, your achievements don’t match your effort. If we end up being good enough, we’ll be there. If we’re not, we won’t”. Trent Green has heard this kind of talk before. Green said the Super Bowl talk was already in place when he joined Vermeil and the Rams in 1999. “Here’s a team coming off a 4-12 season and the first time I walk in the facility there’s a huge picture of the Lombardi Trophy and they’re talking about Super Bowl,” Green said. But Vermeil has the resume to back it up, taking the Rams to the Super Bowl and winning it in that 1999 season. Green says that makes the talk seem not-so crazy, “When you have a track record like he does and we’ve been able to have the success over the last couple seasons, everybody buys into it and agrees with it. It definitely carries a lot more weight when you have that ring.” But Vermeil knows the difference between knowing how good a team can be and how good they are now. When asked what his biggest concern is as camp winds down, Vermeil said, “We haven’t come as far as I would like,” but didn’t mention specifics. Vermeil felt better about last season’s team but tempered that statement by saying, “But our expectations are higher now, so it’s harder to break a camp with that same confident level. I feel good about us, but I’ve got some reservations.”