CINCINNATI -- The Kansas City Chiefs are laughing, right?

For the first time this season, brash Bengals receiver Chad Johnson has put his teammates on the spot by guaranteeing a victory -- over the NFL's only undefeated team, no less.

The Cincinnati Bengals (4-5) are counting on Kansas City to take it the

right way.

"They'll probably get a few laughs out of it and just come in

and try to play their game," linebacker Kevin Hardy said Monday.

They certainly have incentive to play one of their best games.

Johnson violated protocol by giving the unbeaten Chiefs reason to

feel slighted. As soon as the Bengals finished a 34-27 victory over

Houston, he repeatedly guaranteed that the Chiefs will get their

first loss of the season next Sunday at Paul Brown Stadium.

The Chiefs have noticed, though they don't plan to fire back.

"We don't need to inspire our opponents any more than they need

to be inspired," Chiefs coach Dick Vermeil said Monday. "We try

to make very rational, classy statements and always reflect

positively on our opponents."

That's how most coaches prefer it. That's also why some of

Johnson's teammates were wondering why he did it.

Why stir up a team that has yet to lose a game?

"Well, he's just excited," Hardy said. "Obviously he hasn't

been in this situation a lot in his NFL career, and he let his

emotions probably get the best of him."

Actually, it was calculated.

Twice last season, Johnson made waves by guaranteeing wins. His

first prediction came true in a 38-3 win over Houston, but the

Bengals lost to the Browns in the other game.

He has toned down the rhetoric under coach Marvin Lewis, who

doesn't approve of trash talking. Johnson warned him last week that

he was in the mood to stir things up again.

"He guaranteed me last week that he was going to do that,"

Lewis said Monday. "I just told him about what goes along with

that -- responsibilities."

The Bengals are aware that if they back up Johnson's boast,

they'll get some of the national attention they've craved. The

NFL's worst team since 1991 hasn't had many opportunities to grab

the spotlight for anything other than losing.

"It's going to be a great opportunity," offensive guard Eric

Steinbach said Monday. "It's exciting to have Kansas City in here.

It would be great to knock them off and be the team that beats the

Chiefs, who were 9-0 and having a great season."

A win also would bring the Bengals a long-awaited measure of

respect. At 5-5, they'd have their best 10-game mark since 1990,

the last time they had a winning record and made the playoffs.

The question is whether Johnson's guarantee will focus the

Chiefs' attention on a game they might otherwise take lightly. The

teams haven't played in 10 years, leaving no room for rivalry or

bitter feelings -- until Johnson spoke up.

"They probably don't take us seriously," Hardy said. "When

they looked at their schedule, as they're probably looking at it

right now, they're looking past us."

Maybe. Or maybe the guarantee will get their attention.

"When I was at the Rams and we played Cleveland in Cleveland,

somebody said they were going to come in there and beat us,"

Vermeil said. "I don't know what the score was, but it wasn't

close."