The Chiefs were off last week, giving them a chance to hit the refresh button a season that’s spiraling out of control. So in another attempt to change the status quo, Crennel said he swapped out the signs this week to try to get across a positive message to his team.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — While watching the World Series on the big screen, Mike Matheny can’t help but project, wondering how it all went wrong. Three days after the St. Louis Cardinals squandered a 3-1 lead in the NL championship series and punished themselves with a red-eye flight home, their rookie manager said he hadn’t slept much. He also hadn’t had much time to dissect exactly how it all went sour so fast. The team failed on many levels in dropping the last three games to the Giants by a combined score of 20-1. Matheny said it was somewhat reassuring to see San Francisco’s Barry Zito master the Detroit Tigers in Game 1, just as the left-hander carved up the Cardinals in Game 5 of the NLCS. In a year filled with booms and busts, Matheny and general manager John Mozeliak are still puzzled by the final collapse.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Chiefs running back Peyton Hillis was back at practice Wednesday and could play this weekend against Oakland for the first time since Week 3. Hillis sprained his right ankle in the Chiefs’ victory at New Orleans on Sept. 23. He’s was able to take advantage of their bye last week to get back on the practice field. Chiefs coach Romeo Crennel said he wasn’t sure whether Hillis will play against the Raiders until he saw him practice in pads, but Hillis said he believes he’ll be ready to go. Hillis signed a one-year deal this season to provide a bruising complement to Chiefs running back Jamaal Charles, who leads the NFL with 98.5 yards rushing per game.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Chiefs are turning away from a former seventh-round draft pick whose career is spiraling toward ignominy, and putting the offense in the hands of a former first-round draft pick whose own career thus far has been a disappointment. Matt Cassel is out. Brady Quinn is in.

Nobody is quite sure whether the Chiefs will be any better off when they host the Oakland Raiders on Sunday, but what’s clear is that the quarterback situation in Kansas City is dire. It’s been that way for years, too.