Chris Johnson Targets Rushing History

Chris Johnson has his sights set on the single-season rushing record in 2010/11 after being named as the AP's Offensive Player of the Year.

Although the Tennessee Titans missed out on the playoffs, mainly because of their shocking start to the season, running-back Johnson ended the year with over 2,000 yards rushing and broke Marshall Faulk's all-purpose yards record by amassing a total of 2,509.

Johnson was only in his second season in the league after a superb career in college as an East Carolina Pirate, but the record-breaking numbers came as no real surprise after a rookie season that saw him shine in tandem with LenDale White.

With White sent to the bench for most of 2009/10 Johnson showed that he could carry the load. Next time around he expects to break Eric Dickerson's single-season rushing record of 2,105 yards and take aim at Barry Sanders' record of 14 straight games with 100 yards on the ground. As he has clocked up 11 already it is unlikely many people will be betting against him achieving this feat.

Johnson became only the sixth player to rush for more than 2,000 yards in a season and won 38.5 of the 50 first place votes available to him in the Offensive Player of the Year poll.

But he has to bring to an end a curse for 2,000 yard rushers, since none of the five players to manage it so far has repeated the dose.

"I think he's one player that has a chance to do it again. He's young," Titans coach Jeff Fisher said. "He's special. He has the potential to go the distance and change games and do those kinds of things."

And Johnson has some hurt pride to look back on as he thinks about his quest for stardom – not one vote went his way in the voting for league MVP, won by Colts quarterback Peyton Manning.

It remains to be seen if Johnson's amazing feats will have any sort of impact on the Tennessee Titans' standing in the NFL betting markets next season, but they will have to avoid a repeat of their start to 2009/10 if they want to stand any chance of making the playoffs.