RIVER FALLS, WIS. ? Anyone who ever has done something really, really stupid and let all his friends down will understand the way Eric Warfield is feeling these days.

Because of his bad judgment, the Kansas City Chiefs have been weakened. Their Super Bowl goal will be even more difficult to achieve.

It was a very bad idea trying to drive home that night with a blood-alcohol level of .189.

“I could have jumped in a cab,” said the veteran cornerback, who has been the Chiefs’ top defensive back for several years. “I could have ridden with somebody. It was just dumb, dumb, dumb.”

Because Warfield has been suspended the first month of the season, the Chiefs can’t afford to waste practice time on him. Instead of running with the first team and working hard to keep his job on a defense filled with new people and renewed hope, he is languishing with the backups.

That means he’s not getting as many “reps” as the first-teamers, including Dexter McCleon, who has been awarded – at least on a temporary basis – his job at right cornerback.

Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Kendrell Bell, right, tries to fight through a block from teammate Darrell Hill. The two practiced Friday at the team's training camp in River Falls, Wis.

Standing among the backups as the starters run through their spirited drills day after day, Warfield has the look of a little boy watching the birthday party next door that no one invited him to.

“The hardest thing about it is watching the team go ahead and move on without me,” he said in a soft voice. “That’s the really hard part.”

Although police pulled Warfield over that night in September before an accident could happen, his third DUI in three years led to a 10-day jail sentence and 80 days of house arrest. Then, as expected, NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue announced shortly before camp opened that Warfield would be suspended the first four games of the season.

“The first couple of days were rough,” he said. “But I understood the situation. I placed the team in a bad spot. I had to step back and let the other guys get prepared for the first quarter of the season.”

While the Chiefs are launching their season against the New York Jets, Oakland Raiders, Denver Broncos and Philadelphia Eagles – three 2004 playoff teams and an archrival – Warfield won’t even be allowed into the locker room.

Kansas City cornerback Eric Warfield watches the starters work out during afternoon practice. As he has throughout the preseason, Warfield worked out Friday in River Falls, Wis., with the backups.

“But I’m going to root my team on,” he said. “I’m going to attend all the games.”

Still, it’s hurting the Chiefs, and it’s not doing Warfield’s once-thriving NFL career any good.

“My job’s not guaranteed. And I’m pretty sure it’s not going to just be given to me when I get back,” he said.

On that point, coach Dick Vermeil is clear.

“He understands that he’s not going to just walk back into his job,” Vermeil said. “He understands he’s put himself in a situation that he’s going to have battle out by doing everything right.”

McCleon will open at right cornerback opposite highly regarded newcomer Patrick Surtain at left cornerback. A nine-year veteran, McCleon played poorly last year while struggling with injuries.

But just two years ago, McCleon tied for the team lead with six interceptions. At 31, he may not be washed up yet.

As further cornerback insurance, and consequently more competition for Warfield, the Chiefs also have brought in veterans Ashley Ambrose and Dewayne Washington.

“You provide opportunities for other people to take your job when you make the kind of mistakes Eric’s made,” Vermeil said.

• 6Sports video: News from Chiefs camp (08-05-05)

Missing one quarter of the regular season also will cost him about $1 million in salary.

“But the money is not the main thing,” Warfield insisted.

Conditioning is.

It has been said that “football shape” can be achieved only by playing football. A worried Warfield is checking out professional training facilities in Arizona and Colorado and may spend most of his suspension there.

“You can train as hard as you want to,” he said. “But it’s a lot different when you get out there on the field. I put myself in this situation. I’ve got to live up to it. When the season starts, I’ve got to somehow, some way find somebody to keep me in shape.”

As bad as things seem, he knows they could have been so much worse.

“I think back over the things that could have happened that night,” he said. “There could have been a bad accident – a fatality. I think about that, and I was lucky that this was all that happened.”