Kansas City, Mo. ? In his first public comments since the Kansas City Chiefs lost their last nine games and finished 4-12, owner Clark Hunt seemed to be putting his embattled front office on notice.

“The 2008 season is going to be a very important year for our football team,” Hunt said Thursday. “I expect us to at least compete for a playoff spot.”

At the same time, Hunt conceded that third-year coach Herm Edwards faces a major retooling of a team that finished near the bottom in many offensive statistics while struggling through a losing streak that set a record for the franchise his father founded more than 40 years ago.

“I’m realistic and patient to some degree. But I also know that in the NFL you can quickly turn things around,” he said. “I think you can look at a franchise like Green Bay who three years ago was in the same spot we’re in. They were 4-12.”

Sitting in the large, tastefully appointed office in Arrowhead Stadium that his father had long occupied, Hunt discussed his plans while drinking sweet-smelling imported coffee out of a plastic foam cup.

“I’m not saying this football team’s got to win 10 or 11 games next year. But I expect us to be competitive for a playoff spot,” he said. “Certainly, if we’re 4-12 again that would be a failure, or anywhere close to 4-12. It’s not unrealistic for us to have a team that’s in the mix fighting for a playoff spot.”

The 43-year-old Hunt became the youngest owner in the NFL when Lamar Hunt died 14 months ago and willed most of his vast estate to his four children. Clark Hunt also has been one of the least visible and least involved owners, until now devoting most of his time to the family’s other interests.

But signaling an increased presence, Hunt spent Thursday meeting individually with various print and electronic reporters who regularly cover the Chiefs.

Hunt disappointed a great many fans last month when he decided to retain Carl Peterson, the president and general manager since 1989. He said an evaluation of the football operation convinced him that Peterson had made the right adjustments two years ago when he hired Edwards to replace the retired Dick Vermeil.

“Carl obviously has a very good long-term record,” Hunt said. “He’s shown that he can turn a bad football team into a good football team in several different places, including here. At the end of the day, I concluded that continuity in our front office really gave Herm and the football team the best chance of being successful in 2008.”