Kansas City, Mo ? The only good running back the Kansas City Chiefs have shut down all year is about to get a second chance.

LaDainian Tomlinson barely got past the line of scrimmage all day in the season opener Sept. 7, when the Chiefs got their season off to a good start by beating San Diego, 27-14.

In the ensuing weeks, backs like Ahman Green, Rudi Johnson and Jamal Lewis have taken advantage of the Chiefs’ porous run defense to pile up the kind of stats that turn ordinary players into Pro-Bowlers.

Despite this obvious soft spot, the Chiefs will take the league’s only 10-1 record into San Diego this week for a return meeting with Tomlinson and the Chargers. It does not figure the Chargers will again expect to run for just 64 net yards.

“I think it’s going to be a steady dose of Doug Flutie and LaDainian Tomlinson,” said defensive end Eric Hicks. “But you would certainly expect to see a lot of that big running back.”

Tomlinson, despite playing for a 2-9 team that frequently falls behind and has to pass, is No. 2 in the AFC with 1,066 yards rushing. His average of 5.4 yards per carry stands in sharp contrast to the Chiefs’ average yield of 133.7 yards per game — which is 26th in the league.

“He’s very good. Great, as a matter of fact,” Hicks said. “This guy makes runs normal backs couldn’t make. He’s definitely top five, top three in the league in my opinion. They’ve had some injuries to their offensive line, which have hurt them. But he’s still hard to stop.”

A big problem for the Chiefs’ defense has been giving up the big play — something Tomlinson is a threat to break every time he touches the ball.

“The first game of the year we held him pretty good,” said defensive tackle Ryan Sims. “If we can make them throw the ball, which I don’t think they want to do, I think we can cause them a lot of problems.”