BENGALS Teammates unhappy about guarantee

Cincinnati wideout Chad Johnson guaranteed a win over Kansas City.
CINCINNATI (AP) -- Chad Johnson's teammates are far from thrilled about his guarantee.
The receiver's latest brash prediction is drawing shrugs and pointed criticism from his Cincinnati Bengals teammates, who were put on the spot when Johnson spouted off.
Johnson has guaranteed a win over undefeated Kansas City on Sunday at Paul Brown Stadium.
"It's not like we look to Chad and say he's going to inspire us," right tackle Willie Anderson said Wednesday. "I think you should just keep quiet and never let people see you coming. It's that much grander when it does happen.
"I'm Chad's biggest fan, but why do you say that?"
Johnson likes to create a stir with his statements. Twice last season, he guaranteed the Bengals would win games. He was right about Houston, wrong about Cleveland.
Creating controversy
The Chiefs (9-0) haven't played the Bengals in 10 years, so there were no hard feelings between the teams until Johnson decided to show them no respect by saying they had no chance to win.
Now, Johnson's teammates have to deal with the fallout.
"If Kansas City had said that, you guys would see it all over the locker room," Anderson said. "You'd see it on every poster. It would be in everybody's locker. We'd be sleeping on it, thinking about it at night."
Johnson knew that coach Marvin Lewis, an old-fashioned type who disdains trash talking, would be unhappy with the guarantee. Lewis and most of the players are tactfully avoiding the issue.
"You might get a few people [in Kansas City] all riled up," quarterback Jon Kitna said. "The reality is, you think you're going to win every game. For me, it's not that big of a deal."
But Lewis wants to make sure it doesn't become a trend with Johnson.
"He doesn't need to do that. He's too fine a football player to do that," Lewis said. "But at some point in his life, somebody told him that was something cool to do. We'll get that out of him."
On the spot
Like it or not, Johnson, who agreed to a five-year contract extension Wednesday night, has put them on the spot.
"When a guy in your family goes out and makes that kind of a statement, we have nothing to do but go out there and back him up," said linebacker Kevin Hardy, who wished that Johnson hadn't made the guarantee. "We're going to do all we can to try to make that guarantee come true."
Last season, Johnson's guarantees drew more laughs than anything else because the Bengals were in the midst of a 2-14 season. He was careful until last Sunday, when a 34-27 victory over Houston left the Bengals (4-5) only one game out of first in the AFC North.
The Bengals haven't been this close to first place this late in a season since 1990, the last time they had a winning record and made the playoffs. Johnson's teammates wonder why he started guaranteeing wins now.
"It's self-promotion," Anderson said. "You guys are buying into it, he's eating it up. He's leading the AFC in receiving [yards] right now, trying to get to the Pro Bowl. He's popular right now.
"It's a comment that's not needed because he's not a leader on this team."