Chiefs' Johnson up for Sunday's Bears challenge
Kansas City running back Larry Johnson is well aware that the Bears' defense limited LaDainian Tomlinson, the NFL's leading rusher last year, to 25 yards on 17 carries in San Diego's 14-3 victory in Week 1.
That doesn't mean Johnson, who ranked second in the league last season, is conceding defeat when the Chiefs visit Soldier Field on Sunday. He sounds as though he's looking forward to butting heads with the Bears.
"LaDainian's more of a speed back, and anytime you go against the Chicago Bears, you've really got to lace them up because you're going to take some shots," Johnson said during a teleconference with Chicago-area reporters. "Like it or not, you're going to have to go down there and face it.
"LaDainian's style, he's elusive and tries to run away from that. When you can't do that, then it doesn't leave you much of an out."
The only time Johnson has faced the Bears was as a rookie in 2003, when he gained 26 yards in 7 carries while serving as Priest Holmes' understudy.
"The Bears, they know my running style," Johnson said. "I'm going to come at you until either one of us go down. It's going to be like that all the way through the fourth quarter. The challenge that I like is, 'What can I do against the Chicago Bears that LaDainian couldn't do?' "
Johnson didn't get his season off to a stellar start, either, running for 43 yards on 10 attempts in Sunday's 20-3 loss to Houston. The Penn State product admitted he was not up to speed in Week 1 after missing most of training camp and preseason due to a contract holdout.
"I'm going to be 100 percent when I go into this game," he vowed. "That's one thing I hate about holding out of camp, and I wish that we'd done this contract thing a lot sooner like I wanted to, so I didn't have to hold out of camp. Because you can't practice game reps. You can't practice game endurance until you're actually in a game.
"So it was difficult for me in the Houston Texans game because I wanted to fight, wanted to keep going and couldn't get into that rhythm because I'd only been with the offense for two weeks. I couldn't get my breath at some times."
The 10 carries against the Texans were out of character for Johnson. He set the NFL record for most rushing attempts in a season last year with 416 while rolling up 1,789 yards.
"This game, I'm forcing myself to stay in there because we need this win," Johnson said. "I'm going to make sure I'm in there for the long haul."
Asked if he was concerned that the record number of carries last season would shorten his career, Johnson insisted he's ready to tote the ball 400 more times.
"If they look at the film, I rarely ever take shots," he said. "Little DBs are more into trying to take out my ankles and shins than trying to hit me on my thighs or upper body."
Tomlinson never ran far enough against the Bears to meet many defensive backs. Of course, another week brings a new challenge.