LOS ANGELES -- Ladd McConkey's first NFL primetime game ended in disappointment.
Against the Arizona Cardinals in Week 7 on "Monday Night Football," the rookie receiver caught five passes for 45 yards and had two drops in a 17-15 loss. It was the most disappointing game of McConkey's career up to that point, he said after the game.
That day, his performance and the struggles of the entire receiving group prompted a meeting amongst the receivers in the locker room. L.A.'s receivers had multiple drops, a fumble and the offense didn't score a touchdown despite gaining almost 400 yards. During the meeting, they vowed not to have a performance like that again.
"I don't really remember the good plays, just the bad ones," McConkey said then. "Just move on and come back."
Since then, McConkey, 23, has been one of the NFL's best receivers and is emerging as the Chargers' top target. His 392 yards and two touchdowns since Week 7 are the most in the NFL among rookies.
Sunday night's win over the Bengals was the best game of his career: 6 catches, 123 yards, with two crucial catches on the Chargers' final drive to give them a 34-27 win. While Sunday's win reflected somewhat of an organizational paradigm shift where the Chargers finally avoided a meltdown, it was also somewhat of a coronation for McConkey.
"You dream of moments like this; you work for moments like this," McConkey said. "So I feel like it's just the little things are just adding up."
The Chargers had squandered a 27-6 third-quarter lead when Justin Herbert and the Chargers offense took the field from their own 16-yard line, with 45 seconds remaining and in the game tied at 27. Herbert had thrown seven straight incomplete passes, and the Chargers had gone three and out on four of their last five drives.
On the first play, Herbert launched the ball to McConkey, who ran by Bengals cornerback Mike Hilton. McConkey leaped over the outstretched arms of Hilton to snag the ball for a 28-yard gain. Herbert went to McConkey again two plays later; this time, McConkey was wide open for a 27-yard gain to put the Chargers in field goal range. After the catch, McConkey looked at the Chargers raucous fans in celebration.
"We knew how special he was going to be," Herbert said. "Thankful for that guy, and he's definitely made my job a lot easier."
It's not easy to get McConkey to talk about himself. After the game, with a game ball sitting in his locker, McConkey's first response was about how the defense got stops late to set up the final drive. Eventually, McConkey reflected on his moment Sunday night, one he had dreamed of growing up.
"Right before the game they called my name and I was running out. I was like, man, 'This is 'Sunday Night Football.' It doesn't get any better than this,'" McConkey said. "So I just wanted to go out and not make the moment bigger than it was, but it was a pretty special moment."
Sunday night was McConkey's second game this season with 100 receiving yards, joining Keenan Allen in 2013 and John Jefferson in 1978 as the Chargers rookies in the Super Bowl era to have multiple 100-yard receiving games.
After parting ways with Allen and Mike Williams in the offseason, the Chargers were considered perhaps the league's worst receiving corps. The Chargers traded up in the second round of the draft to get McConkey, a 5-foot-11, 186-pound receiver who had battled injuries and never had a 1,000 yard receiving season in college.
But it's been McConkey who has surprised just about everyone outside of the organization, and making questions about this receiving group somewhat of an afterthought.
"Ladd is amazing," second-year wide receiver Quentin Johnston said. He continued: "Even though I have been here a year longer than him, I'm still learning from him. Just the confidence he has in himself, I feel like that kind of just bounces around the whole receiving room and the whole team."