It had nothing to do with him lifting the Chiefs on his back in the final two snaps and carrying them to a dramatic 27-23 victory over the Raiders at Arrowhead Stadium – a win that might have saved the Chiefs’ season.

Rather, it’s that Johnson suddenly has warm and fuzzy feelings about a coaching staff he always thought didn’t believe in him.

“This is the first game in my career where someone has trusted me to put the ball in the end zone with seconds left,” Johnson said. “If we don’t score, we don’t win.”

“Coach Vermeil, regardless of what we go through on a daily basis, for him to trust me to put the ball into the end zone during a big game like this means a lot to me.”

“They know they can count on me in real big-game situations,” Johnson said. “This is a real big game that they put me in to get the job done.”

“It had to do with the way I was running the ball the whole time. If I wasn’t getting any yards, any push, I don’t think he would have made that call. He would have let Trent or Tony Gonzalez make that play. But he felt comfortable with me.”