Finally, the Eagles Let Kotite Go : Pro football: Lurie says he hasn’t made a decision on a replacement for the head coach.

Win or lose, Rich Kotite’s chances of remaining as coach of the Philadelphia Eagles all but evaporated shortly after Jeffrey Lurie wrote the $185-million check to buy the team last May.

Lurie fired Kotite on Monday, two days after the Eagles closed a 7-9 season with their seventh loss in a row, a 33-30 defeat by the Cincinnati Bengals.

The parting appeared amiable. The two men stood together as Lurie announced that “Rich Kotite would no longer be the coach of the Philadelphia Eagles.”

Lurie said he would pay Kotite the estimated $500,000 he would have received in 1995, which was the final year of his contract, and the two men shook hands.

The move was a foregone conclusion after the team’s terrible descent from playoff caliber to sub-.500, although Lurie insisted he hadn’t made up his mind until the Bengal game, which the Eagles lost by giving up two field goals in the final three seconds.

“I really wanted to let everything play itself out,” Lurie said. “You can’t judge a coach or a team until the end of the season.”

Still, Lurie’s comments when he bought the team left many with the feeling that it would take a monumental season for Kotite, hired by former owner Norman Braman, to keep his job.

In making such a substantial investment--the price Lurie paid Braman was the highest ever for a professional sports franchise--the new owner said he would settle for nothing less than championships.

“The only thing I’m interested in is winning Super Bowls,” Lurie said then. “You only go through life once and winning is the bottom line when it comes to football.”

On Friday, former Eagle Coach Dick Vermeil met for several hours with Lurie and said Sunday he was interested in returning to the team he led to the 1980 Super Bowl.

Lurie said he had talked with Vermeil in an “advisory capacity” since before the season.

“I think that in the course of those discussions, Dick has become more excited about returning to the NFL,” he said.

However, he emphasized, “No job offer has been made to Dick Vermeil. The entire process of figuring out what’s best for the Philadelphia Eagles franchise is about to take place. . . . There’s lots of options.”

At halftime of Monday night’s San Francisco-Minnesota game, Vermeil told ABC he had not been offered the job.

“The time frame to think about an opportunity--the possibility of being considered for the opportunity--is eight to 10 days,” said Vermeil, who cited burnout as his reason for leaving the coaching ranks following the 1982 season.

Vermeil, who had a 57-51-0 record as Eagle coach, said if he returned, it would have to be as coach and general manager.

Kotite, 52, was 37-29 after replacing Buddy Ryan in 1991. He has been mentioned as a candidate for the coaching job with the expansion Carolina Panthers.