CHICAGO - October 21st, 2007 may now rest in peace.

Yes, it was a pre-season game. In the big sphere of life in the National Football League, it’s forgotten very quickly. But for the Chiefs what happened Thursday night at Soldier Field was a memorable moment.

The last time the Chiefs won anything was that October Sunday last year in Oakland, when they beat the Raiders 12-10. After that day, they played nine more games. All of them ended up in the “L” column.

Winning had been forgotten.

But after 291 days of the worst taste one can imagine, the Chiefs got a mouthwash that while momentary, was very tasty and sweet. Their 24-20 victory over the Bears re-introduced the idea of winning.

And, it wasn’t so much that the Chiefs won, but the manner in which they grabbed victory. They did it with a productive offense. You read that right: a productive offense. The Chiefs scored almost as many points in one game as they did in four pre-season games last year. There were 32 points scored last year in August.

They did it by taking the first drive directed by Chan Gailey and turning it into a 16-play 81-yard touchdown producer. On that drive they converted five different third down plays, including one of third-and-15 yards. They did it by scoring with the two-minute drill offense at the end of the first half. They did it with a two-minute drill offense at the end of the game, when they were behind on the scoreboard.

All of that came with three different quarterbacks running the show, and different running backs and different receivers and a host of different blockers.

OK, it was a single moment of time in a season that is all about these instances of success and failure. But what the Chiefs showed on this one summer night was that there’s hope with Gailey’s offense. There’s a future there, there’s some talent and there’s a seasoned play-caller who knows how to blend it all together. The scoreboard no longer has to run fallow.

“We did some good things tonight,” said starting quarterback Brodie Croyle. “Are we where we want to be? No. But it’s a start.”

A darn good start for a team that had trouble scoring points last year; in 20 games they scored 24 points or more only twice and were not able to do so in the last 10 games. The Chiefs scores in some of those games are so painful to hear: 12, 11, 10, 17, 10, 7, 17 and 10 points. By the end of the first half in Chicago, they had 14 points, or more than they scored in 14 of 20 games last year.

That first drive was a beauty. The key plays were a scramble for five yards by Croyle, an 18-yard Croyle to WR Will Franklin completion, a 12-yard run on third down by RB Jamaal Charles, a 22-yard Croyle to Franklin completion and a 12-yard pass to FB Mike Cox.

The score came on a third-and-goal play at the Bears five-yard line when Larry Johnson went over LG Brian Waters and scored the touchdown.

“It couldn’t have gone much better for us,” Croyle said of the first possession. “We got our running game going and hit some timely passes. That was what we wanted. We feel good about what the first group did. It’s something to build on. We can still correct a lot of things that we didn’t do right.”

At the end of the half Huard took the offense on an eight-play, 75-yard scoring drive, including an 8-yard touchdown pass where WR Maurice Price fighting his way into the endzone .

“That was nice,” said Edwards. “We got there and punched it in to score. We played it pretty good with the clock. Damon did a good job and our young receivers made some plays and Jamaal (Charles) played pretty well.”

Tyler Thigpen worked the second half and threw a big interception that set up a Chicago touchdown. But he also took the team down on a drive that produced the winning touchdown, as he hit WR Bobby Sippio for the 27-yard score.

Rookies Charles, Franklin, Price, TE Brad Cottam, RB Dantrell Savage and FB Mike Cox all made contributions to the victory. The offensive line was good, giving up two sacks but generally providing all three quarterbacks with protection. Larry Johnson ran well in his first real action since his foot injury last November.

There was so much good to come from this game for the Chiefs.

But mostly, they were happy to win.

“You always want to start off with a win, whether it counts or not,” said Johnson. “It makes a point.”

Point made.