Kansas City, Mo. ? It says a lot about the state of football in Kansas City when the Chiefs give up 501 yards of total offense, get beat by two touchdowns and still set off waves of optimism among excited fans.

Losing 26 games in two years will do that to a victory-starved town. Simply hanging tough with a double-digit favorite is viewed as proof that happy days are only a couple of kickoffs away.

Counting an 0-4 preseason, the Chiefs have two wins in their last 30 outings, or one for every 15 times they’ve taken the field. That’s rather poor, especially in a league that tilts its draft and strength of schedule to assist bad teams in getting better.

Yet, fans jammed sports-talk airwaves after Baltimore’s 38-24 victory Sunday, and maybe they weren’t crazy: In spite of the really bad stats, the Chiefs actually have a few positives to take into their home opener this week against Oakland.

For one, they did not fold when the heavily favored Ravens got them down 10-0 in the first quarter. They were actually in position to win in the fourth quarter, even though their starting quarterback and No. 1 cornerback were out due to injuries.

Perhaps most significantly, the setback did not feel like merely the latest loss from 2008.

“No,” said safety Jarrad Page. “It felt like the first loss of this season. We’ve got a whole bunch of different guys on this team. It doesn’t feel like last year at all. It feels like a totally new team.”

The Chiefs have a first-year general manager, an overhauled roster and a rookie head coach. They also have a new quarterback in Matt Cassel, though there was no indication Monday whether his injured left knee would be healed for him to make his regular-season Chiefs debut Sunday.

If not, Brodie Croyle will be under center for an offense that did not get a first down against Baltimore’s rugged defense until late in the first half.

The blame goes all around, center Rudy Niswanger said.

“One thing I can say from what I felt on the field and from what coaches who have seen the film told me is, one guy every play,” he said. “Whether it was an offensive lineman one block away, a missed cut, or a miscue on a call, or whatever. It was one thing every play. Each person took their turn making a mistake. And that’s what leads to bad plays.”

And, while groping for more reasons to feel optimistic, the Chiefs could point to the fact they were actually in position to beat last year’s AFC runners-up in the final minutes; Baltimore scored its last touchdown with only seconds to play.

“Basically, all we want to do is win,” Page said. “All the hard work we put in during the offseason and training camp leading up to the (Baltimore) game, to go out and lose is unacceptable. We aren’t into moral victories. The Oakland game is huge. It’s huge. We were 0-4 in the preseason. We need a ‘W.’ Period.”

A victory would give fans something to cheer about for only the second time in almost a full calendar year.

“There were some encouraging things for us to take out of Baltimore,” Niswanger said. “Some. But the bottom line is, we’ve got do whatever it takes to win the game. We’re not here for consolation prizes.”