Its the day before the Chiefs first preseason game of 2008 and I don't think there has been this much anticipation for the beginning of football in Kansas City for years.

The reasons are obvious.  Last years season was extremely unsatisfying.

The disappointment started in preseason when the Chiefs offense was only able to score 2 touchdowns in 4 preseason games.  Many held the hope that Brodie Croyle was going to step in and impress us all, beating out "journeyman" QB Damon Huard for the starting QB job.  The young player struggled, as young players who are not prepared do.  It's not that Huard was clearly better than Croyle, in fact, he "won" the job by calling in sick for the last preseason game.  What we didn't realize at the time was that a huge part of the horrible play of the Chiefs offense in the preseason was due to what we would later learn to be a defunct, horrible offensive line run by a completely inept and incapable offensive coordinator.

But I can still remember the day that the Chiefs seemed to lose all hope.  For several weeks, we saw a frustrated Larry Johnson run up the backs of his offensive linemen, roll his eyes at the horrible play calls and spike the ball in frustration.  But despite the obvious problems, LJ was keeping the Chiefs in it, leading the AFC West with a 4-3 record.  That is, until the game vs. Green Bay on Nov. 4th when LJ sprained / broke his foot and was lost for the season.  The Chiefs went a miserable 0-9 the rest of the way and if not for the excitment of rookie Dwayne Bowe, there wouldn't have been much at all positive to say about the entire season.

But that is behind us.

The thing that creates so much excitment about the upcoming season, starting with the first preseason game against the Chicago Bears, is the chance to FINALLY exorcise those demons from last year.

LJ is healthy again.  We have a brand new Offensive Coordinator with previous experience and success in the NFL.  We are coming off potentially the best draft in Chiefs history in which we found several potential Pro Bowlers.

Does this mean we're ready to make a run for the Super Bowl this year?  No, probalby not.  But thats not what we're looking for in a rebuilding year.  We are looking for flashes of future greatness.

Will Brodie Croyle silence the critics by staying healthy and becoming the leader of this team?  Is Dwayne Bowe really a future superstar or another Sylvester Morris?  Is Glenn Dorsey really the monster in the middle everyone thinks he is, or the second coming of Ryan Simms?  Will the defense be able to make up for the loss of Jared Allen and continue to improve?  Will the changes and additions made drastically improve the Offensive Line?  Can Chan Gailey make the offense exciting again?  Will we have a FG kicker that can make a 30 yarder or a return man that can get the ball past the 20?

These are questions we have been asking ourselves more or less since December of last year when it was obvious we were wallowing in futility.  Starting Thursday night vs. Chicago, we begin to learn the answers.

We won't be able to tell everything from preseason games obviously, but it will be the beginning of opportunities to gather glimmers of hope if they are there for the taking.