Kansas City, Mo. ? Trent Green wasn’t as much drafted that day in 1993 as he was embarrassed.

Unlike Peyton Manning, his counterpart in Sunday’s Indianapolis-Kansas City AFC showdown, Green was not drafted No. 1 overall. Or No. 100. Or even No. 200.

No, there were 224 players taken that day — and the Pro Bowl quarterback who will lead the Chiefs against Manning’s Colts was No. 222.

“I didn’t anticipate being chosen with the second-to-last pick,” Green said. “I thought I would go higher. But that’s just the way it worked out.”

Things got worse when San Diego, the only team in the league that had shown even the faintest interest, cut him.

“You can go back to my little league years and no one had ever cut me before or told me that I wasn’t good enough to play,” Green said. “So that was kind of a blindside. I didn’t really see that coming. I thought I had had a pretty decent offseason and training camp and done all the things that they had asked me to do.”

So he went to the Canadian Football League and, in keeping with a 222nd draft pick, got cut again.

“It was very disappointing and was something that I wasn’t really prepared for,” he said.

He managed to catch on as a backup in Washington, where in three years beginning in 1995 he threw one regular-season pass.

Kansas City Public Works Department's Street Sign Division employees Lenoir Byron, left, and Robert Pla erect an honorary street sign for Kansas City running back Priest Holmes. A local radio station paid the fee for the sign, which was put up Thursday morning in Kansas City, Mo., to help boost the excitement for the Chiefs' AFC playoff game Sunday against Indianapolis. The 31st Street location was chosen to coincide with Holmes' jersey number.

And it fell incomplete.

Finally, in 1998, he got his chance and started 14 games with the Redskins. He put up some good numbers, too, when he hit 278 of 509 passes for 3,441 yards and 23 touchdowns, with only 11 interceptions.

Destiny finally seemed to be smiling when Dick Vermeil brought him to St. Louis to be his No. 1 man. Then came a knee injury in an exhibition game and four operations and the emergence of Kurt Warner as the Super Bowl MVP.

Was there a time during all that adversity when he decided to pack it in and look for a job as a coach?

“Yes — but just for a brief minute,” he said. “You wonder if you really want that instability that goes along with playing and coaching and I figured that if I was going to jump into the coaching arena and have that instability, I might as well be in the playing arena and see how that works out.”

After the 2000 season, when Green subbed occasionally for an injured Warner, Vermeil came calling once again. By now, Vermeil was head coach of the Chiefs and in need of a quarterback.

In exchange for a first-round draft choice, the Rams sent the former 222nd pick to Kansas City.

Maybe Green’s luck hadn’t yet improved very much, but at least his market value had.

The first year in Kansas City was rocky, and included a team-record 24 interceptions and only six victories.

But things smoothed out in 2002 and Green’s long journey finally reached its destination. The Chiefs led the league in points scored.

Then they led this year as well. Green passed for 4,039 yards, second in the AFC only to Manning’s 4,267. The Chiefs finished 13-3 and Green was named to the Pro Bowl.

Now he’s just two more wins away from being a starting quarterback in the Super Bowl.

“I think he’s paid his dues,” Vermeil said.

All the adversity has only made him stronger, Green says.

“We’re happy here in Kansas City and are happy about how things worked out,” he said. “All those things have made me a better person and a much better player because of those experiences. I don’t take anything for granted. I wouldn’t want to do anything else.”

Even though Priest Holmes scored an NFL-record 27 touchdowns, Green’s teammates voted him their most valuable player this season.

“A guy like Trent who’s been through so much, you can’t help but admire him,” said fullback Tony Richardson.

“He kept working, working, working and now he’s one of the best quarterbacks in the league. When you’re in the huddle with that guy, you know where his heart is. You want to go out and win for him.