The Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. Ä In hastily called news conferences yesterday, David Whitmore said he was either ''misquoted or misunderstood'' when he told a TV interviewer Joe Montana ''is probably done,'' and Chiefs general manager Carl Peterson declared the ''media will not force Joe to make a decision.''
In the meantime, there was no direct word from Montana himself, who was vacationing in Mexico while numerous published reports quoted sources as saying the four-time Super Bowl winner would not be returning for a 17th season.
''I talked to Joe 2 1/2 hours ago,'' an exasperated Peterson said yesterday.
''He will make that decision on his own. The media won't make it for him. I won't make it for him. He might have already made it at this particular point. But he will do his own thing. Maybe that's what makes him so special and unique.''
Montana, possibly the greatest quarterback ever, has one year remaining on his three-year contract with Kansas City, which maintains it is planning on having him one more year.
Whitmore, a starting safety who came from San Francisco in the Montana trade in 1993, told WIBW-TV in Topeka, Kan., Monday, ''He's probably done, that's all I can say. I have to be careful what I say. I talked to him last night. There's a lot of things he's real unhappy about with the organization and things of that nature.''
But facing a room full of reporters and TV cameras yesterday at Arrowhead Stadium, Whitmore said he was misled by the interviewer and did not mean to say he had spoken with Montana the night before.
''When I talked to the guy before the interview, he gave me the impression Joe had already retired,'' Whitmore said.