Much of the chatter surrounding the Chargers had been about the lack of involvement of rookie Quentin Johnston.
Johnston, the first-round pick out of TCU, had only seven catches for 64 yards through six games. However, he silenced those who were puzzled on Sunday by turning in his best game of the season in the win over the Bears, catching five passes for 50 yards.
Johnston seized his opportunities, which came after Joshua Palmer aggravated the knee injury he sustained in the loss to the Chiefs in Week 7.
Johnston played a large part in the two-minute drill right before halftime, hauling in passes for 11 and 12 yards, respectively. On the second play, he showed off the yards-after-the-catch juice he was lauded for.
On the same drive, Johnston was targeted in the red zone, but Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson had good coverage on the football. Shortly after, he turned a short pass into a six-yard gain on 3rd-and-3 to move the chains.
Johnston wasn’t targeted again until the fourth quarter, as he and Justin Herbert connected on a back-shoulder catch that went for 18 yards on 3rd-and-15.
Quentin Johnston is alive and wellpic.twitter.com/Q2NGDR1VeC
— SleeperNFL (@SleeperNFL) October 30, 2023
“We wanted to get him going. I felt like we had a lot of good plays in the plan for him,” Brandon Staley said about Johnston. “He made plays tonight, a lot of different types of plays. That third-down conversion on the back shoulder was huge. Got a couple of shallow crosses.
“The more he plays, the more he improves. I’ve told you guys that all season with him. I think you’re seeing that. The more that he figures out how to play, you’re going to see the production because he is certainly capable,” Staley added. “I’m proud of how hard he’s worked. You can see that he’s earning the trust of the quarterback more and more. He just needs to stay on track.”
It was encouraging to see Johnston get going. While the stats may not have been as eye-popping leading up to this game, Johnston had been flashing in previous weeks by getting open. It was just a matter of the connection between him and Herbert to develop, which is why this could be a positive sign going forward.
“I knew that it hadn’t gone our way, connecting with him, the first couple of games, but I knew if we were patient, we were going to get him the ball and something good is going to happen,” Herbert said. “He stepped up big-time today and we’re expecting big things from him.”
