KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- For those who believe in omens, the last time the Kansas City Chiefs went undefeated in the preseason, in 1969, they went on to claim the only Super Bowl victory in franchise history.

The previous time the Chiefs won all of their exhibition games, in 1966, they reached the Super Bowl for the only other time in club history.

So it seems the 3-0 Chiefs have a lot to play for in Thursday night’s final preseason game at the St. Louis Rams. Yet, on closer inspection, having preseason success extend into the regular season is mainly a Kansas City thing.

Over the last 15 years, three undefeated preseason teams went on to win the Super Bowl (2000 Baltimore Ravens, 2003 New England Patriots and 2013 Seattle Seahawks). Over the same time, no winless preseason team has gone on to win the Super Bowl.

But, according to numbers from the Elias Sports Bureau, teams that finished a preseason without a loss generally don’t fare much better than those that go winless. From 2000 through 2014, teams that went undefeated in the preseason averaged 7.8 wins. Over the same time, those that fail to win a preseason game average 7.6 wins.

Infamously, the 2008 Detroit Lions went 4-0 in the preseason but went on to become the NFL’s only team to finish a regular season 0-16.

This explains why the Chiefs are approaching the Rams game with so much apathy they don’t plan to play any of their starters.

“We play a bunch of guys in the preseason and it’s an evaluation process,’’ offensive coordinator Doug Pederson said. “That’s what the preseason is for and we go out to win every game: regular season, preseason, postseason, whatever it is. We coach to win every game.

“However, preseason is a little different because it’s the evaluation process. You sort of have an idea, like you know Alex Smith is going to be your guy and Jeremy Maclin is going to be your guy, but after that you sort of have to start evaluating your players and find the best 11 going into [the regular season opener against] Houston. There are teams that go 0-4 in the preseason and go onto the Super Bowl, so I don’t put a lot of weight into that [the record].”