CINCINNATI (Ticker) -- Chad Johnson made the guarantee. Peter Warrick and Rudi Johnson made sure it came true.
Warrick scored on a 68-yard punt return and a career-long 77-yard reception in the fourth quarter and Rudi Johnson ran for 165 yards as the rejuvenated Cincinnati Bengals stunned the undefeated Kansas City Chiefs, 24-19.
Jon Kitna threw two touchdowns for the Bengals (5-5), who prevented the Chiefs from becoming just the ninth team since the AFL-NFL merger to win their first 10 games. Cincinnati has not been .500 after 10 games since 1990 - the last year they made the playoffs - and moved into a first-place tie with Baltimore atop the AFC North.
"It gives us legitimacy, for everything," first-year Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said of the win. "The hard work, everything that is important. We have played now against three division leaders, and we have beaten them. That is important - that we can play football like the rest of them. From the time that we started, we said we were going to bring the NFL back here. And that was NFL football out there today."
"First off, I'd like to congratulate Marvin Lewis and his staff for doing an outstanding job," Chiefs coach Dick Vermeil said. "They really did a great job of preparing their football team to play, obviously better than I did mine. I think we got outcoached and outplayed."
After the Bengals' victory over Houston last week, leading receiver Chad Johnson said of their forthcoming game against the Chiefs, "We will win - that's a guarantee. It's no offense to their organization. It's just the way I feel. Some people might not like it, but I'm confident that my teammates won't leave me hanging."
Warrick, who had a career-high 114 yards on six receptions, did not. His second career punt return touchdown opened a 17-6 advantage with 12:47 remaining.
"I think it is a great thing," Warrick said of the guarantee. "We always go into a game expecting to win. We might not always make it public like C.J. did, but you can't ask for anything better than everyone coming together and backing him up."
The Chiefs pulled within 17-12 on a 12-yard touchdown pass from Trent Green to Tony Gonzalez with 6:24 remaining, but Green's conversion pass to Gonzalez was incomplete, and Kitna connected with Warrick down the middle on the Bengals' next play from scrimmage. Cornerback Eric Warfield slipped while trying to tackle Warrick, and with no safety help, Warrick spun around and had a clear path to the end zone.
"I was in man-to-man and the guy goes up top and starts pulling away inside, and I thought I had a chance at the ball and I went for it and missed it," Warfield said. "So he made a great play on the ball. He had a great game overall."
"He just keeps getting better. He just keeps having fun," Lewis said of Warrick. "He and Chad are so doggone competitive. That has been our thing for a couple of weeks - let's return a kick for a touchdown. He has been close. We just did it."
The Chiefs made it 24-19 on a three-yard TD pass from Green to Jason Dunn with 3:19 remaining, but Rudi Johnson rumbled 54 yards to the 29, then picked up a first down on 3rd-and-3 three plays later to ice the contest.
Kitna completed 19-of-32 passes for 233 yards and two touchdowns while Green went 28-of-42 for 313 yards and two scores for the Chiefs, who saw their franchise-record winning streak snapped.
Kansas City took its only lead, 6-3, on a 39-yard field goal by Morten Andersen 4 1/2 minutes into the second half before Kitna completed a 13-yard touchdown to fullback Jeremi Johnson with 5:04 left in the third quarter that gave the Bengals the lead for good.
