"Matt Cassel stood in the visitors' locker room after another preseason loss, this one at least an improvement for him personally. But still another Chiefs loss that, if it's remembered at all, will be for the mistakes that overshadowed Cassel's performance.

"We did some good things. We can't turn the ball over seven times," he said, overestimating the five turnovers that Kansas City finished with in a 20-19 loss to the Packers. "We hurt ourselves on many of those drives, and we had some penalties as well. That's been the theme throughout the preseason."

One theme that seemed to end Thursday was that Cassel would be limited throughout the preseason. He had completed only a dozen passes in his three previous performances, and it left questions about whether he was the quarterback who reached the Pro Bowl last year or the one who threw five interceptions in his team's final two games.

On Thursday he looked like an all-star. He completed 15 of 17 passes for 127 yards. He also orchestrated a scoring drive in which luck spared the Chiefs another turnover, when Dwayne Bowe followed his 29-yard reception with a fumble. The ball squirted out of bounds, and two plays later, Cassel found Dexter McCluster in the end zone for a touchdown.

"We played well tonight," he said, "in certain circumstances.""