When asked what chance a pair of barefoot midgets had of succesfully sneaking into the homeland of the invincible Lord of Darkness, evading his hordes of minions, in an effort to destroy the source of all evil; the wizard replied "There never was much hope...just a fool's hope".

This Sunday the NFL version of this story plays out.  The Kansas City Chiefs were one of the worst teams in football last year and the New England Patriots were a perfect 16-0 in the regular season.  Tom Brady completed 68.9% of his passes and only threw 8 interceptions in 578 pass attempts for a measely 1.4 INT %.  The Patriots offense broke several NFL records, including points in a season and beat their opponents by 20 points or more eleven times.

The Chiefs on the other hand, are coming off their worst season in 20 years riding a 9 game losing streak to end the season.  Our current roster includes 33 players in their 3rd season in the NFL or less.

So how can the Kansas City midgets ever hope to sneak away from the Dark Lord's lair at Gillette Stadium with a victory?

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Now that the final cuts are in, the Chiefs will need to determine their practice squad.  We know of course, that they will likely bring in a few players from other teams, but for the sake of discussion, which 8 players do you think will be coming back on the Practice Squad?  Remember, some players that have been in the league more than two years will not be eligible.  That means YOU Svitek and Stallings!

We'll keep this post by DJ up front because tomorrow is another cut day, this time down to 53 players. -Chris

You often hear about the final preseason game being a players last chance to earn a spot on the roster.  The coaches though, usually pretty well have in mind who they want on the 53 man roster and as long as those players maintain the status quo they are in.  So realistically, it is more accurate to say that the final preseason game is a players last chance to LOSE a spot on the roster.

I'm afraid fan favorite Dantrell Savage may be one of those guys that played himself out of a roster spot.  Not just because of the fumble in tonights game.  Not just because of stepping on the two yard line last week.  Not just because of his inexperience in fielding punts.  But more likely all of the above.

I have said before that B.J. Samms looks like the second coming of Eddie Drummond and I haven't seen anything to change my mind on that yet.  But can we really afford to have a rookie with only WEEKS of experience fielding punts, one of the scariest jobs in the NFL back there when the game is on the line?  Even this I would consider worth the risk considering the alternative, but Savage hasn't really had any impressive returns in either punt or kick off returns. 

Sure he's spunky and has tons of heart and is exactly the kind of player you want on your team, but how much good is a spunky guy with lots of heart who is inexperienced in fielding returns, occasionally makes bonehead errors and typically has very average to below average returns; really going to do this team?

Don't get me wrong.  I WANT Savage to make the team.  I really am concerned about BJ Samms being Eddie Drummond all over again.  But Herm may have a long sleepless night over this decision.

Who else do you think made or lost a roster spot tonight?

What we have seen of the Chiefs so far in 2008 is pretty much what you're going to see all year.  No, I don't mean we're going to see all the same players or only see the plays we saw last night.  Nobody gameplans or prepares for their opponent in preseason, and the Chiefs are not showing their hand playbook wise before the regular season (Brian Waters said they were only using 2 different running plays tonight).

What I mean is that the inconsistency we have witnessed over the three preseason games is exactly what you can expect of a young team, which has talent, but lacks experience.  One game they are going to look fantastic as they did against the Bears.  The next game they are going to look as bad as they did in 2007, like last night.

Is this indicative of something horribly wrong with the coaching or development of some of the players?  Not necessarily.

"Rebuilding" is a word we use for the transition phase between what we had before that we really didn't like (2007) and what we want the team to becomes (Super Bowl Contender).  Rebuilding is not an excuse for losing,  It is simply a reality.

I think every Chiefs fan can see that there are still lots of holes and things that need worked on with this team.  Special Teams is abysmal.  We STILL don't have a Field Goal Kicker.  Our receivers still have a tendency to drop balls and have a hard time getting open.  Our QB still has a tendency to overthrow some passes and get locked onto a certain receiver.  Our defensive line still occassionally has problems getting to the QB.  Our offensive line occasionally looks good and other times looks terrible.

But this is all to be expected of a team in transition.  Some days they are going to look like playoff contenders and get our hopes up and the very next game they will crush our souls.

We all CLAIM that we know this team is going to probably not be very good and that we just want to see progress, but do we really believe that?  If you really do, you will see a game like the Dolphins game as one of those valleys, hopefully in between the peaks, and not overreact and start making plans for turning over the entire organization to immediately fix it.

I know everyone hates to hear the word patience, but just because you had patience last week does not mean you don't have to have it this week.  It will take time for the team to level off and be consistent on a regular basis.

I have been criticized for telling people who don't have that patience to go buy some Patriots gear and watch that team.  That is not an indictment of anyones fanhood.  It is a reality.  The 2008 Chiefs are going to be inconsistent and heartbreaking.  If you don't feel you have the fortitude to deal with that, for your own sake, go watch another team that you can expect to win every game, because thats not going to be the 2008 Chiefs.  Most likely it won't be the 2009 Chiefs either.

You see, it doesn't matter how long its been since the Chiefs last playoff win.  Nothing can change the past.  All we can do is support our team the way it is from here on out.  If you're a full fledge Chiefs fan and can't bring yourself to root for another team that is a winner, you're going to have to, somehow, learn to deal with the Chiefs the way they are now because, for now, this is all we've got to work with.

We all are going to have different ideas of what is progress and what is not, and because of that, we will all have different ideas of what decisions the organization should make.  Thats all fine and dandy, but we must remember that the place of a fan is as a spectator. 

We as fans do not have decision making power to personally decide who is hired, who is fired and who deserves more time. Dwelling on these things is an exercise in futility and anguish that ends up putting us in the terrible position of almost rooting for our team to fail just so we can be proven right.

So, again, we must have patience.  Not because it is the morally right thing to do, but because we have no other alternative but to switch to watching another team.

I'm not willing to do that.  Are you?