Kansas City, Mo. ? Both optimists and pessimists among Kansas City’s long-suffering fans are pointing to Jamaal Charles as proof that their side is right.

The emergence of the quiet running back with rare sprinter’s speed, say the optimistic, gives hope for better days to come.

But to the pessimistic, Charles is further evidence that first-year head coach Todd Haley and his coaches couldn’t pick a quality football player out of a lineup. The Chiefs’ brain trust thought so little of the second-year pro they stuck him on the bench at the beginning of the year and even made him inactive for one game. In the meantime, former Pro Bowler Larry Johnson was struggling week after week to get past the line of scrimmage.

Finally, on Oct. 25, Johnson booted up his computer and tweeted himself out of town. Suspended for making gay slurs and critical comments about his coach, Johnson was released and Charles was summoned from the second team.

It was like the Chiefs found a winning lottery ticket stuck to the bottom of their shoe. Since he got rolling on Nov. 8, Charles has rushed for 745 yards — more than anyone in the National Football League except Tennessee’s Chris Johnson.

With 139 yards at Denver in the regular-season finale on Sunday, he will hit 1,000 yards — not bad for a guy who’ll have played for little more than half a season.

“I think that would be real special. I would come back next year with a lot of confidence,” he said. “This season, I was playing kind of nervous. I wasn’t even really out there playing with the guys like I’ve been playing. But I’m starting to be more comfortable. I’m starting to feel myself, like I can really be a good back.”

For Haley and first-year general manager Scott Pioli, this entire season has been about laying a foundation for things to come after inheriting a team that won only two games in 2008. Record-wise, there’s been precious little progress. They go into the regular-season finale with only three wins. But Charles gives them something special to build an offense around.

One of the fastest backs in the league, he was a bronze medal winner in the 400-meter hurdles at the 2003 World Youth Championships and won the 100-meter dash at the Big 12 outdoor championships for Texas.