2008 Figures: Overall record: 2-14. ATS: 8-8. O/U: 8-8
2008 Rankings: Scoring offense: 18.19 (No. 26) Scoring Defense: 27.5 (No. 29)
2008 Inside the Numbers: The Chiefs had the youngest roster in the league last year, averaging just 25.5 years of age. That group was responsible for the worst record in franchise history as well, as allowing the most points in a game (54 against Buffalo) in the 48 years of existence.
2009 Super Bowl Odds: +6000

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Offense: For the last eight years Matt Cassel had joked he was the fourth best quarterback in America after playing behind Heisman winning QBs Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart at USC and Tom Brady for his entire NFL career. Well, last season was no joke as Cassel exploded for just 3,700-yards passing and 21 touchdowns, leading New England to an 11-5 record following the injury to Brady. Ironically enough, the team that put Matt Cassel onto the field is now the team that is giving his first full-time quarterback job after former Patriots personnel man Scot Pioli traded for the 6-foot-4 passer.

Cassel will have a great offensive mind as his head coach in Todd Haley, who was signed away from the Arizona Cardinals after helping get that struggling franchise to the Super Bowl in 2008. He will also have one of the best young receivers at his disposal in Dwayne Bowe. In Bowe’s two seasons in the NFL he has grabbed 156 catches and has 2,017 yards under his belt. He is also a deep threat, having 25 catches of more than 20 yards in those two seasons.

Despite his best efforts to get traded from Kansas City Larry Johnson will be back with the team as it rebuilds into a more pass-happy offense. The new offense may actually help Johnson, who might have already played his best football. Keeping the oft-injured back under 250 carries a season could add life to his legs and football career making him more productive over a longer period of time.

Defense: Taking a page from “Extreme Makeover Home Edition” the Chiefs defense will go from a 4-3 to a now en vogue 3-4 defense. Bringing in veteran linebackers Zach Thomas and Mike Vrabel to give leadership to athletic DE turned OLB Tamba Hali and uber-talented Derrick Johnson.

The three down lineman will need to improve as the rush defense was one of the worst in the league in 2008, allowing five yards per rush (31st ranked), 6.04 yards per play (29th) and 393.19 total yards per game (31st). They also were one of the worst units at getting off the field as the defense was on the field for 32:04 per game (29th).

The secondary, which may be the closest thing to a 2008 bright spot, comes back intact. Two rookies ended the season as starters and forced the Chiefs hand in releasing Patrick Surtain. Brandon Flowers started from the first game and was stellar against the pass. His rookie secondary mate was Brandon Carr. Carr, at 6-foot 207-pounds, can guard bigger wide receivers and jump with the best of them as well.

Overall: Despite a pitiful 2-14 SU record last season, the Chiefs were actually the most profitable team in the AFC West, going 8-8 ATS. The team was only favored in one game and went 0-1 when laying points.

The overhaul of the offense, which included the trade of Chief staple Tony Gonzalez, will be an interesting experiment. There is not much depth beyond Dewayne Bowe as Mark Bradley and Bobby Engram do not inspire much confidence on the outside.

Unless everything comes together for Kansas City this could be another long season for Chiefs fans, who can barely remember being playoff regulars all through the 1990s.

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A difficult, and demanding travel schedule, awaits the Chiefs. They open the season going to Baltimore, back home for Oakland, back out to the east coast and Philadelphia before returning home for two against the Giants and Cowboys if they are able to salvage a win (most likely over Oakland) from that stretch that would be par for the course. It doesn’t get any easier until the last few weeks of the season when the Chiefs could get a few wins against Buffalo, Cleveland or Cincinnati. Expect less than five wins.