On the doorstep of history, Chiefs running back Jamaal Charles keeps his eyes on the prize

Jamaal Charles sat in front of a mostly-empty locker last Sunday at Levi’s Stadium, completely silent, his back to the reporters who had come to interview him. He had accomplished a great feat on this day, but you wouldn’t have been able to tell by his sullen demeanor and slow movements.

His team had lost 22-17 to the San Francisco 49ers, and Charles didn’t much feel like celebrating, although his 15 carry, 80-yard effort was enough to catapult him past Larry Johnson for No. 2 on the Chiefs’ all-time rushing list.

Naturally, once he finished getting dressed, Charles — who eventually took time to answer questions — was asked how he felt about surpassing Johnson and needing only 53 yards to topple Priest Holmes for No. 1 on the list.

“It will be a great accomplishment to make, but at the end of the day, I really care about wins,” Charles said. “It’s hard when you do break records and you lose, it just don’t mean nothing, you know what I’m saying? It only means something when you win games with your teammates. That’s fun right there.”

Teammates and coaches were not surprised by Charles’ attitude after the game. This, they say, is what makes him special, what makes him a worthy successor to Holmes’ crown.

“He passed Larry Johnson, but I guarantee you, if we could have got the ‘W,’ that would have meant more than anything,” running backs coach Eric Bieniemy said.

Charles’ fellow running backs, Cyrus Gray and Knile Davis, snickered when asked if Charles has ever brought up the record — which he seems poised to break next Sunday against San Diego — around them.

“Naw, heck naw,” Gray said, as Davis nodded nearby. “He never talks about stats. Ever.”

Bieniemy, however, suspects the record will mean more to Charles down the road, when his journey from third-round pick to potential Hall of Famer is complete.

“He’s all about team goals, but in my opinion, I know this is a special deal for him,” Bieniemy said. “And maybe I’m talking out of turn, but to say that he will become the leading rusher for this historical organization says a lot about him, says a lot about all the hard work and self-sacrifice that he’s put into his profession.”

Bieniemy, who spent nine years as an NFL running back, is speaking from personal experience. He’s proud of what he was able to accomplish in his career as a reliable third-down back, and can only imagine what it would be like to look back and know he was a team’s all-time rushing leader.

““When you’re a player, you never really gain a full appreciation for anything while you’re playing,” Bieniemy said. “Now, as you grow older and you get more mature, more than anything you get a joy out of your kids learning what you did. And I think more so than anything, he’ll appreciate it more later on in life. His girls will appreciate it, and I’m sure his family, they obviously appreciate it right now.”

Chiefs play-by-play man Mitch Holthus, who has been with the team since 1994, agrees. He’s been mapping out his play call in anticipation of the moment for months, largely because he respects Charles immensely and wants to give him the all-time call he deserves.

“I say it as emphatically as I can — he’s the best running back in Chiefs history,” Holthus said. “That’s no disrespect to any of the people in that discussion,whether that’s Priest Holmes or Ed Podolak or Mike Garrett or Larry Johnson, statistically. This guy is in a class all by itself.”

Those are words coming from a man who has watched Charles operate up-close and personal for the duration of his entire seven-year career. Holthus has more Charles stories than he can count.

“He is one of the toughest overall players I’ve ever seen in a Chiefs uniform,” Holthus said. “He’s not afraid to do the dirty work. I’ve never seen a high-profile running back with as many yards and touchdowns be the first guy in line to do running back block the linebackers, which is no fun for the RBs.

“He jacked Derrick Johnson this year in St. Joe. Jacked him. First time I saw that drill was on the schedule I thought man, I’m gonna be right there. It was on a field far away from the crowd, and Jamaal sprinted to that spot where the other running backs are like ‘Oh God, let’s get through this,’ but he reps it the first time against D.J. and popped him.”

Charles’ all-around skills will surely be a boon to him going forward as he continues down what could potentially be a Hall of Fame career. Charles’ 6,018 career rushing yards rank 81st all-time in the NFL. Thirteen of the 18 backs who cracked the 11,000-yard barrier have made the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and LaDainian Tomlinson will eventually make it 14.

That barrier could be difficult for Charles to reach, given his age and the multipurpose way in which Chiefs coach Andy Reid and offensive coordinator Doug Pederson use running backs. But with two or three more seasons like last year, when Charles led the AFC in rushing, he’d be a candidate. Pederson is confident Charles could be right in the mix.

“I think he’s got plenty of juice,” Pederson said. “I think there’s a lot left in his tank, and I think there’s a lot of great football in front of him. I don’t think he’s maximized his potential yet. He’s still learning everyday, every week, and he still gets better with time.”

Pederson thinks Reid’s offense could be a boon to the 27-year-old Charles going forward, right as he approaches the age when elite backs tend to fall off.

“By utilizing his speed on the edge, by allowing Jamaal to maximize his talent as a receiver, it obviously lengthens your career and gives you an opportunity to play more football because you’re not taking the everyday pounding a running back takes by running between the tackles,” Pederson said.

Pederson noted, however, there is one goal still out there for Charles that will help his Hall of Fame chances. And it is the ultimate goal.

“You look at some of the Hall-of-Fame running backs, and one of the common denominators is they’ve won Super Bowls,” Pederson said.

Charles may not talk about stats, but true to his unselfish nature, it turns out he does care about Super Bowls — and Gray has proof.

“Jamaal has been here seven years and I think he’s only been to the playoffs twice, so that’s one thing he’s looking forward to, getting to the Super Bowl,” Gray said. “He told me the thing that got him really motivated was one of his best friends, Earl Thomas, and Seattle winning the Super Bowl. … They won the Super Bowl, and Jamaal sees everything Earl is going through and all the accomplishments, it just makes him even more hungry.”

Gray says Charles talks about this all the time.

“In the huddle … even when we’re out to eat,” Gray said.

But while that remains Charles’ ultimate goal, the next major milestone, Holmes’ record, is staring him right in the face. Charles said he saw Holmes a few times during the offseason — both played football at the University of Texas — and knows him.

“Records are made to be broken, and I think he knows that,” Charles said.

And while Charles certainly isn’t the type to put the cart before the horse, he did admit after the 49ers loss — frustration and all — that the fact he’s even approaching the record is proof he’s come a long way.

From hardly playing as a rookie, to the season-ending knee injury he suffered early in 2011, Charles has had quite a journey on his road to the doorstep of Chiefs immortality, and he’s not tone-deaf to it.

“No,” Charles said with a smile, when asked if he ever thought he’d get to this point. “It’s definitely an honor to still be playing for the Chiefs and making records still.

“(I really) don’t care about individual (accolades) and all that, but it’s pretty cool when you do get those awards.”

This story was originally published October 11, 2014 at 5:58 PM with the headline "On the doorstep of history, Chiefs running back Jamaal Charles keeps his eyes on the prize."