Vikings Clip Chiefs, 17-13

Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Corey Mays plants Minnesota Vikings quarterback Brett Favre after he throws the ball.

Despite all the hoopla surrounding the return of Minnesota Vikings quarterback Brett Farve the Kansas City Chiefs defense turned another Vikings quarterback into the star of the night. Tarvaris Jackson completed 12 of 15 passes for 205 yards and two touchdowns for the Vikings.

By James Sullivan

Chiefs Coalition Columnist

   "It's only the preseason" is an excuse, a crutch to cover failure and ones shortcomings.  The 2009 edition of the Kansas City Chiefs have virtually no margin for error if they hope to win games this season.

    "We hurt ourselves with penalties on offense and turnovers," said Chiefs head coach Todd Haley.   "I think we were minus two in the game. That was an area we wanted to get better in and were not. We did not cause any on defense and we fumbled it four times and they got two."

    The Chiefs first team defense did a tremendous job of knocking around a quarterback who has had all of three NFL practices since last season.  The Vikings coaches removed quarterback Brett Favre after the first quarter and from there is was game on as backup quarterback Tarvaris Jackson shredded the Chiefs defense.

    By the time Jackson was done in his limited action he had brought the Vikings back from a 10 point deficit giving the Vikings a lead they would not relinquish.  The Vikings added an insurance field goal to make the final score, 17-13.

    Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassel made some strides over last week going 9 of 14 on his pass attempts for 99 yards and a touchdown.  Of course he did have the benefit of throwing to Chiefs wide receiver Dwayne Bowe who made his return to the first team this week and caught Cassel's touchdown pass.  Bowe was demoted to second or third team for last weeks game against Houston.  Bowe wasn't a starter against the Vikings but he quickly the target of many of Cassel's throws.

    It's hard to believe  the Chiefs offense won't be easy to stop for opposing defenses again this season.  They can't stretch the field with a vertical passing game.  It seems like a broken record but the Chiefs have little chance of success running the ball to the right side of the offensive line.  They do a mediocre job at best of protecting the quarterback. 

    This weeks starting right tackle, Barry Richardson, had his share of difficulties as did the rest of the offensive line against the Vikings who played without their two best defensive linemen. It will be interesting to watch the rest of the preseason if anyone can emerge as a legitimate right tackle for the Chiefs.

    The Chiefs lack of talent on offense after Bowe is alarming.  It makes one wonder what the powers that be inside of One Arrowhead Drive were thinking when evaluating last season's game film.  To actually decrease the number of weapons on offense by trading future Hall of Fame tight end Tony Gonzalez will make Bowe's job this season incredibly more difficult. 

    Opposing defenses will key on Bowe and it will be up to the rest of the receivers to beat single coverage.  Easier typed than done to be sure considering the talent level of the running backs, tight ends and wide receivers after Bowe.

    The new Chief who stood out the most was kicker Ryan Succop.  He booted his kickoffs into the endzone and made two field goals.  The Chiefs may have found a compliment to punter Dustin Colquitt.  They are still struggling to find an effective kick returner.  Backup running back Jamaal Charles seems best suited for the job as he returned one kickoff for 26 yards.

    The Chiefs defense did a nice job before and after Tarvaris Jackson was on the field.  Linebackers Corey Mays and Tamba Hali each gave the new Vikings quarterback, Brett Farve, a welcome back to the NFL hit.

    The Chiefs made some positive improvements from the Houston game but they had to.  Last week almost seemed like former Chiefs head coach Herman Edwards was still running things.   It was as though Edwards was still getting his game day advice from former quarterbacks coach/sideline sage Dick Curl.

    The third preseason game serves as most teams dress rehearsal for the regular season.  They have a long ways to go but at this point but I think most realistic Chiefs fans would be happy with small signs of progress.  The Chiefs next preseason game is August 29 at 7pm CT against the Seattle Seahawks.  The game will be re-broadcast on the NFL Network at 11pm ET on August 29.

Yahoo Sports.com and kcchiefs.com contributed to this story.   (AP Photo)