Lost -- and found

In a lost season, the Kansas City Chiefs might have found their quarterback of the future.

Tyler Thigpen, the Vikings' seventh-round draft pick a year ago, is giving the Chiefs (1-8) reason to rule out trading for a quarterback during the offseason and at least hesitate about selecting one early in next year's draft.

Why? Well, for starters, all he's done the past three weeks is pretty much outplay Brett Favre, Jeff Garcia and Philip Rivers.

Forced into the starting lineup because of season- ending injuries to Brodie Croyle and Damon Huard, Thigpen has completed 65 percent of his passes for 710 yards, six touchdowns, no interceptions and an average passer rating of 102.9 in his three starts against Favre's Jets (6-3), Garcia's Buccaneers (6-3) and Rivers' Chargers (4-5). Meanwhile, Favre, Garcia and Rivers combined for five touchdown passes, six interceptions -- one of which was returned for a touchdown -- and an average passer rating of 88.5.

Unfortunately, this gets overlooked because Thigpen's team lost all three games and is on pace to top the franchise record of 12 losses.

"Tyler is playing lights out," said David Bennett, Thigpen's college coach at Division I-AA Coastal Carolina. "But I know Tyler, and he's about the most competitive guy you'll ever meet. Bowling, softball, golf -- the guy can hit a golf ball 320 yards -- you name it, he'll compete and want to win more than anybody you've ever seen."

Bennett, the founding father of the Coastal Carolina program that began play in 2003, was in front of his TV on Sunday. He watched the Chiefs lose 20-19 at San Diego in the first NFL game to feature two former Coastal Carolina Chanticleers. Believe it or not, there are four of them in the league, including Carolina defensive back Quinton Teal and Cincinnati receiver Jerome Simpson.

"I kept watching to see if Mike and Tyler would go up to each other after the game," Bennett said. "Mike went up to Tyler. I'm sure Mike just wanted to give his old quarterback a big hug. But Tyler, he didn't want any part of that. He was mad they didn't win the game. The kid is a winner."

Bennett built his program around Thigpen, a high school tight end/wingback who became the best quarterback in the history of the Big South Conference.

A year ago, Thigpen caught the eye of Vikings quarterbacks coach Kevin Rogers, who convinced the Vikings to make Thigpen the Big South's first player to be drafted.

The Vikings were careful not to showcase Thigpen during the 2007 preseason. But when they tried to sneak him onto their practice squad so they could sign tight end Garrett Mills to their 53-man roster, the Chiefs claimed him.

On Monday, Vikings coach Brad Childress said the Chiefs told the Vikings after the draft that they would have selected Thigpen later in the seventh round. The Chiefs and Vikings also held joint practices last summer, but Childress still didn't believe the Chiefs or any other team would even consider claiming a seventh-round draft pick that hadn't shown anything on film during the preseason.

"Marcus Allen?" Childress said. "Wow. That's some lofty company. Next thing you know, he'll be hanging out at the Playboy mansion."

Add Chiefs future Hall of Fame tight end and teammate Tony Gonzalez to the list of admirers.