Print edition: 
KANSAS CITY, Mo. —Through the seven turnovers of Tyler Palko's first two NFL starts, Todd Haley remained his most public supporter and, seemingly at times, his only Kansas City friend.
Haley has declined the chance to gloat about that since Palko won his first game as a starter last week when the Chiefs beat Chicago.
"It's over,'' Haley said, "and we need another one.''
Perhaps Haley is reluctant because the Chiefs beat the Bears in spite of and not necessarily because of Palko. His erratic play was something pointed out not so delicately Wednesday by New York Jets coach Rex Ryan.
"Their quarterback,'' Ryan said, "has had some issues.''
Palko is nonetheless settling in as the Chiefs starting quarterback. He evidently will start against Ryan and the Jets Sunday in East Rutherford, N.J. Kyle Orton was listed as being a limited participant in practice Wednesday with and injured index finger on his passing hand.
"He's still pretty sore,'' Haley said. "We're going to take him day by day.''
Rookie Ricky Stanzi was the number two quarterback during the small portion of practice the media was allowed to watch.
So for lack of realistic options — Orton has the injury and the Chiefs clearly don't feel Stanzi is ready to play — the Chiefs are becoming Palko's team. Though the victory in Chicago wasn't a work of offensive art, it's still a win and that can go a long way in advancing the process.
"It's tough to play quarterback in this league,'' Haley said. "It's tough when your first couple games are what he have been, his first three, really. What he's done is he's gotten better every game and he was playing quarterback when we won a big game and made a couple big plays for us within that game.''
The offense scored a total of 13 points in their final two games with Matt Cassel as the starting quarterback, so the Chiefs knew things wouldn't be smooth, at least to begin with, once the untested Palko took over.
That's come to pass. The Chiefs have one touchdown in Palko's three games, that being the Hail Mary to Dexter McCluster on the final play of the first half in Chicago.
"It's been a process,'' wide receiver Steve Breaston said. "With him being thrown in there after Matt got hurt, we knew there are going to be some things that aren't going to go your way.''
But the Chiefs can point to some successes. After those seven turnovers in games against New England and Pittsburgh, he didn't have one against the Bears. In a low scoring game, it's not difficult to imagine the Chiefs losing in Chicago had Palko thrown an interception or two.
"It's been an experience of highs and lows,'' Palko said. "That's to be expected. No one comes in, at least I didn't come in and expect it to have it be a storybook, fairytale ending. This is the NFL and you have to learn how to deal with adversity. That's just how it goes."
"It's easy for us to continue to push and say . . . when things don't look good, take off and run. But when you're sorting through, trying to read (the defense), that's one of those things I really believe comes with experience.''
