Bengals hoping for wire-to-wire run from Johnson

Aberration? This was more of an abomination.

"In Chad's world," said Lewis, "it's the plays we call and where the ball goes (that is the problem), which is good. We'll make sure we'll get it to him. And we should because he's playing better (now) than he's ever played. And that's the most important thing."

Look, I don't know what happened last December. All I know is Johnson wasn't involved as much as he should be in this offense. And that can't happen again if the Bengals are serious about squeezing Baltimore for the division.

I was there last season when the Ravens knocked Cincinnati off 26-20 in November, and I remember seeing Johnson afterward. He wasn't happy. He had 31 yards in catches and did nothing of consequence, and afterward, he fumed about the play-calling.

In essence, an irate Johnson challenged coaches to get him the damn ball. Do that, he said, and we can start talking about catching the Ravens.

Well, someone must've listened, because he had 100 yards in catches in four of the next five starts -- including that career-best 260-yard game against San Diego. The Bengals won four and lost the fifth only when the Chargers erupted for 42 second-half points.

Which underscores my point: When Johnson is involved -- when he's making big catches, scoring touchdowns and creating havoc for defensive coordinators -- the Bengals are formidable.

When he's not, they're 0-3.

"He's taken what we told him and fueling himself with it," Lewis said. "He's fueling his game, and he's fueling his effort. He's playing faster and being more precise in his route running. He's probably faster than he's ever been, and he's blocking better -- and he's having fun with it.

"He took what we said as criticism where we meant it as a correction. As a team, we benefit from him and his energy, and we want to keep his passion. I hope he is back to his old self because that means he's scoring touchdowns and we're winning."