Chris Johnson’s Stellar 2009 Season: Flashback to CJ2K's historic '09 campaign
Former Tennessee Titans running back Chris Johnson had several exceptional seasons in the NFL, but 2009 was clearly the best campaign of his career.
That season, Johnson recorded an eye-popping and league-leading 2,006 rushing yards to go along with 14 touchdowns. St. Louis (now Los Angeles) Rams star Steven Jackson, who finished second in rushing that year, had 590 yards less than Johnson. That meant the race for the rushing crown wasn't even close.
Johnson is one of only eight NFL players to ever reach the 2,000 rushing yard mark in a season. The other seven are OJ Simpson (1973), Eric Dickerson (1984), Barry Sanders (1997), Terrell Davis (1998), Jamal Lewis (2003), Adrian Peterson (2012), and current Titan Derrick Henry (2020).
During Johnson's incredible 2009 season, he also caught 50 passes for 503 yards and two touchdowns. He became the first player in NFL history to pick up more than 2,500 yards from scrimmage as he finished with 2,509. Those 2,509 yards broke Marshall Faulk's record of 2,429, which he produced back in 1999 with the Rams.
Most Yards from Scrimmage in a Season
Chris Johnson - 2,509 (2009)
Marshall Faulk - 2,429 (1999)
Christian McCaffrey - 2,392 (2019) https://t.co/ncfmZI50NV
Johnson started the 2009 campaign off with a less-than-stellar 57-yard performance against the Pittsburgh Steelers. However, he exploded during the next game, going off for 197 yards versus the Houston Texans.
Following three games in which he failed to reach the 100-yard mark, Johnson finished the season with 10 consecutive contests with at least 104 yards.
He lit up the Jacksonville Jaguars defense for 228 yards, which included an amazing 89-yard touchdown run.
Chris Johnson bursts for an 89 yard run against the Jaguars in 2009. He went on to win the rushing title with 2,006 yards. https://t.co/n96q0bvgCb
Two weeks later, Chris Johnson rushed for 132 yards and two touchdowns while also catching nine passes for 100 yards in an impressive 41-17 win over the Buffalo Bills.
"CJ2K" averaged 5.6 yards per carry and a whopping 125.4 yards per game in '09. Although he didn't win the NFL MVP award—which was given to Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning—he was named the league's Offensive Player of the Year.
Chris Johnson's underrated run in the NFL
Chris Johnson was drafted by the Titans in the first round (24th overall pick) of the 2008 NFL Draft. He played six years with the team, rushing for over 1,000 yards each season. The East Carolina product left Tennessee after the 2013 campaign and finished his career with the New York Jets and Arizona Cardinals.
He never had another season quite like his unforgettable 2009 campaign. But that season was easily one of the best that NFL fans have ever witnessed.