Kansas City, Mo. ? It’s no wonder college and NFL teams are lining up to talk to Al Saunders.

Kansas City’s hard-driving, London-born coordinator will take an offense into the playoffs that has ranked among the very best in the league for two years running … and passing … and scoring.

The Chiefs, with Saunders at the helm, have enjoyed the most productive two-year period of their history.

Counting punt and kickoff returns, the AFC West champs (13-3) led the NFL this season in 21 offensive categories, everything from total points to fewest giveaways to best red-zone scoring efficiency.

Running back Priest Holmes set an NFL record by scoring 27 touchdowns. Quarterback Trent Green’s 4,039 yards passing are the third-most in Chiefs history while his 92.6 rating was fourth overall in the league.

Known to dream up some of his most innovative plays while jogging, Saunders has shown a consistent knack for spreading the ball around and confusing the opposition.

Tony Gonzalez, who led all NFL tight ends with 916 yards receiving, has lined up just about everywhere but under center. Pro Bowl kick return specialist Dante Hall has thrown a pass. Green has been lead blocker on end-arounds — and flattened his man.

Saunders found a way to get more than 150 yards worth of receptions out of seven different receivers.

Flashy offense has almost become expected under Saunders, whose Chiefs have been No. 1 in the league in scoring and No. 2 in total offense in each of the past two seasons.

But what of his future?

After saying no to Nebraska athletic director Steve Pederson, Saunders seemed certain to hear from NFL teams with head-coaching vacancies. He acknowledged the Raiders asked permission to speak with him. There were reports the Bears, too, wanted to talk.

After Friday, in accordance with league rules, no NFL team could talk to him until the Chiefs’ season ends.

Many fans have been hoping Saunders would not get away at all, that he would be put in Charge in Kansas City when Dick Vermeil decides to retire. Interestingly, almost at the same time Saunders was saying no to Nebraska this week, Vermeil was saying yes to at least one more year with the Chiefs.

Was an arrangement reached in private? Was Saunders promised the Chiefs job when Vermeil does step down?

Nobody will say. But it sounds like the job would go to Saunders if the decision were left entirely up to Vermeil. He at least expects Saunders to be on a lot of teams’ short list.

“I would hope so,” Vermeil said. “If this is what he wants to do, I would hope so. He deserves it. He’s done a great job of directing the offense. All the coaches have done a great job of contributing to the offense. It’s never just one guy. But the coordinator directs the thinking of an entire staff and he has a 51 percent vote with the head coach.”

Saunders, 56, was head coach at San Diego 1986-88 and then joined Marty Schottenheimer’s staff in Kansas City in 1989 as assistant head coach and receivers coach.

Then when Schottenheimer resigned in 1998, Saunders was passed over for head coach in favor of defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham, who was fired two tumultuous years later.

When he failed to get the head job in Kansas City, Saunders left to become part of Vermeil’s offensive staff in St. Louis. He became assistant head coach and offensive coordinator when Vermeil took the Chiefs’ job in 2001.

“Nobody has done it better than Al in the history of the Kansas City Chiefs,” Vermeil said.

According to Vermeil, Saunders was the first to spot the extraordinary potential of Holmes. After the Chiefs signed Holmes as an unrestricted free agent from Baltimore in 2001, their offensive gameplan still was built largely around Green’s passing. But by the midseason, at Saunders’ urging, they began to showcase Holmes.

As a result, he has led all NFL running backs in total yards for the past three-year period.

“At its most basic level, what we do is really pretty simple,” Saunders said. “You take your most talented people and find out what they can do, then you create formations and movements and plays and things to take advantage of their talents.”