But, when you're rebuilding an NFL team after tearing down all but a few weight-bearing beams, it's a start, a first sign of something rising out of the ground.

And so it is with the struggling 1-7 Chiefs, losers of four straight and 16 of their last 17 games, as they hit the road to San Diego this week.

Embarrassed after never having been in back-to-back losses of 34-0 at Carolina and a 34-10 at home against Tennessee, the Chiefs are feeling better about themselves after dropping two consecutive close games.

Their 28-24 road loss to the Jets wasn't decided until Brett Favre threw the game-winning TD with a minute left. Tampa Bay didn't tie the game they eventually won 30-27 in overtime at Arrowhead until the final 19 seconds.

OK, so moral, close-doesn't-count losses possible playoff contenders mean nothing in the standings. But for a team looking for mere signs of life, they'll have to do until something better comes along, hopefully soon.

"Until you win games, you have to be competitive all the way through them." Coach Herm Edwards noted. "We did that against two good teams that, if the playoffs were today, they'd both be in.

"I just think we're getting better. We still have to learn how to finish the game. That comes with experience, and I think we're gaining that as we play.

"The team to me is coming together a lot more now because of what they've gone through," Edwards added. "Sometimes you have to travel this road, and it's tough.

"We've have two tough losses in a row, but we've had opportunities, and that's what you keep preaching to them. If you keep playing this way consistently, eventually the ball's going to bounce your way and you're going to win that kind of game. They believe that, they understand that."

SERIES HISTORY: 96th regular-season meeting. Chiefs lead 50-44-1, with Chargers owning an additional playoff win in the only post-season meeting. The Chiefs snapped a three-year losing streak in Qualcomm last Sept. 30 when they rallied from a 16-6 halftime deficit to take a 30-16 victory in their biggest win of 2007. San Diego avenged that loss by winning the rematch in Arrowhead.