Dear, Vikings: Thanks for our quarterback; Sincerely, Chiefs

Nevertheless, when the team's vice president of player personnel, Bill Kuharich, watched him that summer in the fourth quarter of an exhibition game, he noticed something he liked.

"It was just the way he handled himself and the pressure," said Kuharich. "It reinforced what I had seen on tape. (Team president) Carl (Peterson), Herm and I decided if he ever became available we would claim him."

Which, of course, they did when Minnesota stuck with Tarvaris Jackson and acquired veteran backup Kelly Holcomb. Now, Holcomb is gone, Jackson is benched and Thigpen is playing for Kansas City. Hindsight is 20-20, but it doesn't take a genius to figure out the Vikings erred when they let Thigpen go.

I came to that conclusion last weekend when Thigpen led Kansas City on a 16-play, 91-yard drive that broke a 10-10 deadlock against Oakland. He completed three of four passes and ran for two first downs on that series.

I came to that conclusion again that afternoon when, on third-and-3 with just over two minutes to play, he iced the game by hitting Dwayne Bowe with a 12-yard completion.

"We've got ourselves a pretty good quarterback," said Edwards.

That's as strong a statement as you get from the head coach, but it tells you what he will not: That Tyler Thigpen could be the quarterback the Chiefs envisioned when they drafted Brodie Croyle in 2006. Croyle was supposed to be the Chiefs' quarterback of the future, but those plans have been scrapped because he can't stay healthy.

Thigpen can. He can also win, with last weekend's defeat of Oakland a breakthrough. After close calls against four opponents -- including New Orleans -- he finally demonstrated that he can close a deal, and that's what the Chiefs have been missing the past year and a half.

But that's just the beginning. They rave about Thigpen's mobility. In fact, it was the first quality Edwards ticked off when he listed his quarterback's strengths. Thigpen can throw with accuracy, too, with a string of 161 passes without an interception and a third-down passer-rating higher than those of Brett Favre and Jay Cutler. Plus, he's an outstanding athlete -- the only quarterback in Kansas City history to score a touchdown by running, passing and receiving.

"The question now," said Edwards, "is how will he continue to play and do we want to change the offense? I have to talk to (offensive coordinator) Chan Gailey, but right now I'm thinking we would.

"We changed everything to build the offense around him. It's like we're operating with a three-page notebook, adding a little with each week. Now the question is: Do we stay with this? Because it means you would have to do some things differently, like look at a little different offensive linemen."

The Chiefs have four games to produce an answer, but that they are even considering a change in their offense tells me one thing: They may have found themselves a quarterback.