In the first six games of the current season, the Chiefs scored only 75 total points. Tyler Thigpen started one of those games -- Week 3 in Atlanta. In his first NFL start, he struggled mightily, threw three interceptions, one returned for a touchdown, and Kansas City was blown out, 38-14.

But in the last seven games since Thigpen became an injury-promoted full-time starter and the team changed its offensive philosophy to accommodate him, the Chiefs have scored 158 points, though 21 came on defense or special teams returns.

Bottom line, even though he is only 1-7 as a starter for a rebuilding 2-11 team, the Chiefs think Thigpen and the new semi-spread offense he's running might be the way to go in 2009.

Coach Herm Edwards this week gave Thigpen, a 2007 seventh-round draft pick by Minnesota out of Coastal Carolina, a measured endorsement as Kansas City's prospective starting quarterback next year even as 2008 incumbent Brodie Croyle returns from a season-ending knee injury.

Now, a lot of things can change between now and the first spring minicamp, of course.

There are three games remaining in this lost 2008 season, beginning with this week's home game with San Diego. There's also the little matter of the NFL draft and the quarterback prospects available there to a team like Kansas City with a high draft spot.

Still, in mid-December at least, Edwards said he is inclined to go with Thigpen and the Pistol -- a generic name for the new offense, so-called because Thigpen operates out of something less than a full shotgun position -- as his offensive weapons of choice in 2009.

"For me, personally, I kinda like the way it's going," Edwards said of the new offensive approach, one first implemented to accommodate Thigpen's shotgun and scrambling skills developed while quarterbacking the spread in college.

"We're able to control the clock, and we're still able to run the ball," Edwards added. "And, we haven't turned the ball over a lot. That's a good sign."

Thigpen, the Chiefs' No. 3 quarterback before season-ending injuries to Croyle and veteran Damon Huard, can still work himself out of a starting position, of course.

But against San Diego this week, he faces a team he put the Chiefs in position to tie with 23 seconds remaining in their Nov. 9 game in San Diego. Edwards elected to go for a game-winning two-point conversion after the Chiefs closed to 20-19, but Thigpen could find a heavily covered -- the Chiefs think he was being held -- Tony Gonzalez in the end zone, and settled for the one-point loss.

"We'll see where he's at after the last three games," Edwards said of the 2009 prospects of his current starter.

"But if he continues to play the way he's been playing -- he's been pretty good. From the Jets game on, he's thrown 12 touchdowns with only four interceptions. That's something like a 90 passer rating for a guy who's really a rookie quarterback, who didn't have experience at a big school. Give him credit for that."

SERIES HISTORY: 97th regular-season meeting. Kansas City leads 50-45-1 in the regular season, but is 0-1 in the playoffs. San Diego won the last two meetings, a 24-10 win in KC last December and a harrowing 20-19 decision in southern California this past November.