Larry Johnson exited the showers Sunday and walked gingerly to his locker stall, then dressed himself like he had just had double-hernia surgery. His shoes posed the biggest problem, because only one arm was effective and his back didn’t want to bend.
The Kansas City Chiefs’ star running back was sore, but not only because of his 27-carry, 126-yard performance against the Broncos.
Johnson was sore at himself, primarily for fumbling at Denver’s 6-yard line to end the Chiefs’ first possession. He seemingly made up for the turnover by producing the 14th 100-yard game of his career, tying Christian Okoye for second-most in club history, but he never got closer to the end zone in the Broncos’ 9-6 overtime victory at Invesco Field at Mile High.
“I blame myself,” Johnson said after a game-high 167 total yards. “You can’t fumble when you’re like 5 yards from the end zone. That’s something you just can’t do. Not against this team.
“I knew how it felt to win a game (on my own). Now I know how to lose a game. I don’t think it had to come down to this, but as a playmaker on offense you have to get the ball in the end zone, no matter how far you’re away or what play is called. You feel like you have to score.”
Kansas City first-year coach Herm Edwards wasn’t as hard on Johnson. Edwards was pleased with how the Chiefs, 0-2 with their bye week on tap, responded on the road after a tough loss to Cincinnati at home to start the season.
“It was a defensive game and a field-position game,” Edwards said. “We did good to keep it close. Turnovers definitely got us a couple times. You cannot do that in a game like this, against a team like this. … We left some things out there.”
Quarterback Damon Huard, who replaced injured starter Trent Green, completed 17-of-23 passes for 133 yards and had no interceptions. But his third-quarter fumble stopped a drive at Denver’s 38 and led to the Broncos’ first points of the game.
Huard wasn’t able to direct a good enough drive to get into field position to kick a field goal late in the fourth quarter. Tied 6-6, the Chiefs stalled after going from their 31 to the Broncos’ 47 with 1:16 remaining. They punted. The game went to overtime, and Kansas City never saw the ball again.
“When you don’t score touchdowns, you’re never satisfied with what you did,” Huard said. “We did move the ball, we got a lot of first downs, and I thought we controlled the clock, in the first half, anyway. But we had some unfortunate things happen in the red zone. …
“Give credit to Denver. They did it in the end. But we need to hold our heads up high walking out of here.”
Mike Chambers can be reached at 303-954-1357 or mchambers@denverpost.com.
