If you had to develop a worst-case scenario for the Kansas City Chiefs at this point in the season, it would probably involve losing Matt Cassel for an extended period of time. That may be the case we're seeing now as the Chiefs announced Cassel underwent an appendectomy on Wednesday. The procedure went fine, the Chiefs say, and also indicated that they expect him to "return to work" this week.

We don't know, specifically, what "return to work" means but it seems unlikely he'll be available on Sunday against the San Diego Chargers. The Chiefs will formally announce Cassel's status on Friday's injury report but, according to past examples of NFL players with an appendectomy, Sunday's probably not happening.

When looking at how long Cassel will be out there's the obvious caveat -- each person/player heals differently and an example of one person/player recovering in X weeks isn't necessarily an indication of how Cassel will recover.

That said, many previous examples are in the two week range. One example -- keeping in mind our caveat -- is QB Ben Roethlisberger, who missed the 2006 season opener with an appendectomy. The Bears' Olin Kreutz missed one game in 2002 with one. Adrian Peterson (not that one) was out two weeks in the summer of 2006. The Jets' Erik Coleman missed two weeks in 2006. A baseball player played less than two weeks after getting one.

So San Diego seems unlikely and possibly even St. Louis the following week, if past examples mean anything. ESPN's Adam Schefter reports the Chiefs believe there's a 50 percent chance he plays this weekend -- past history would say that's unlikely.