Can you feel it?

Never has losing had an allure of success. But there is something about this team. Watching the parade of players try to march in step last week at San Diego was a little unnerving. But despite the look of disarray, each man found a way to contribute. A young team finding a way to be competitive against San Diego was impressive. But a rag-tag young team, that practically had to introduce themselves to one another on the field during the game - well...that was special IMHO.

Monday night I'm fortunate enough to spend some one-on-one time with Herm Edwards. Throughout the last nine weeks, it has been almost a constant evolution of "what could go wrong!" Undaunted, Herm keeps slowly sewing seams in the fabric of problems that plague his team week in and out - as well as patching the latest rips caused from the previous games.

But the last three weeks have each reinforced this feeling inside me that something special is going to happen. And I've come to trust some of this intuition.

In 2003, the Chiefs were 9-0. Everyone was clawing their way on to the bandwagon. It was as if we were on an unprecedented path to greatness. Yet the entire time, I felt we were undeserving of this record. Not that we weren't a good team, but we got lucky a few times. And that made us look GREAT...instead of the reality of just good. And as the law of averages often do, they applied themselves to the remaining 7 games and post-season play. Don't think about it, it will just depress you again.

In our ultimate desire to win a Super Bowl, our 13-3 record did nothing but send us to the bottom of the draft and hand us a difficult 2004 schedule. And don't say..."Yes, but it was entertaining!" Because, if you have been watching the last three weeks and haven't been entertained, go immediately to an urgent care facility!

In much the same way the 2003 Chiefs weren't 9-0 perfect, the 2008 Chiefs are not 1-8 losers. And I believe that just as the 2003 record bore little resemblance to the 2004 Chiefs, our current 1-8 record doesn't provide any indication of the Chiefs of 2009. Trust your gut!

THE OFFENSIVE LINE
Another decent week for the offensive line. There are still problems, but the solid play of Tyler and the revolving running backs seem to be getting it done. It will be interesting to throw Larry Johnson back into the mix this week. Larry may have to find a way to fit into the place the offense has gone to.

TYLER THIGPEN
I think it's early to call Tyler a franchise player. But he has no doubt earned the phrase "it's his to lose." Three solid outings without one interception. I also think he has earned a "get out of jail free" card for a game that goes south on him.

THE DEFENSE
Interestingly enough, much of the rag-tag make-shift defense did pretty good with gap protection - stopping a very good player in LT. In particular, I thought John McGraw and Rocky Boiman stepped up. I'll also state for the record, I believe Bernard Pollard had his finest game of the season thus far. Also for the record - Bernard Pollard needed to have his finest game of the season thus far!!