Jon Kitna recently told an amazing story about his former teammate Chad Johnson.
In a video tweeted by @Adams_Hour, the former Bengals quarterback told a story about Chad Johnson dropping a big pass at the end of a game against the Colts in 2002. The dropped pass ended the game and it ended Cincy’s drive to comeback and win the game. (RELATED: David Hookstead Is The True King In The North When It Comes To College Football)
How did Johnson respond? He started practicing like a beast. According to Kitna, he never took reps off after that and would even gear up with the scout team to get extra “conditioning.”
Listen to Kitna break it all down below.
Jon Kitna shares an amazing story about how Chad Johnson became ELITE #Bengals pic.twitter.com/cuugTMDVw3
— Adam’s Hour (@Adams_Hour) December 3, 2020
I love everything about this story from Kitna. The fact teams were making up coverages for Johnson because it was “impossible” to guard him is awesome.
Young kids might not realize it because it was a shade before their time, but Chad Johnson was a monster back in the day.
He was a freak of nature. He wasn’t as physically gifted as Calvin Johnson or Randy Moss, but the man was unguardable on the field.
View this post on Instagram
The fact a single dropped pass changed his mentality forever is incredible. It shows two major things to me. First, it shows how invested Johnson was in the game. Getting that rattled over one dropped pass shows he cared a ton.
Second, it proves what’s possible when you fully commit to doing something. He committed to getting into the best shape possible, and the rest is history.
View this post on Instagram
That was a great story and it shines a bit of light on Johnson’s absurd work ethic and mentality that made him a superstar.