The best part about Collin Johnson's big night had nothing to do with catching a football

The Chicago Bears opened the 2024 preseason in a big way against the Houston Texans with a 21-17 win after the game was called short due to inclement weather.

The biggest star of the night was easily Bears wide receiver Collin Johnson, who made multiple highlight worthy plays to help lift the team to the first win of the preseason.

Johnson's big night will further boost his chances of sticking out in a crowed wide receiver room to avoiding landing on the team's practice squad for the second year in a row and it also helped showcase how far he's come in his short career.

Johnson started his career in 2020 after being drafted by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the fifth-round. After playing 14 games as a rookie, Johnson was placed on the injured reserve and later waived going into his second season. Johnson signed with the New York Giants and played 12 games in 2021 but again found his way onto the IR and was eventually waived for the second time. Johnson landed in Chicago last October and was called up three times from the practice squad last season.

None of those roadblocks has held Johnson back and last night's performance proved that to be the case. Johnson finished the game with three receptions for 56 yards and two touchdowns, the same amount he had in his entire career going into the game.

“For me, with my journey, just with a lot of injuries and just having to be patient, my goal tonight was just to give God glory with everything I did,” Johnson said . “I was super emotional in the locker room because I’ve had such a long journey. This was my first time getting in the end zone since 2020. … I never stopped working. I never stopped keeping the faith, and I’m just going to build off this and keep working.”

While everyone focused on the two touchdown grabs and his insane sideline catch over Texans cornerback Mike Ford Jr., the best part of Johnson's night that will help him fight for a spot on the roster had nothing to do with catching the ball.

Throughout the entire night, Johnson was a main factor on special teams working with the kickoff team. Johnson even had the first official tackle under the new kickoff rules after bringing down Texans returner Steven Sims. Once Johnson started taking over on offense, special teams coordinator Richard Hightower suggested removing him from special teams, and this was Johnson's response.

"I started making some plays on offense and [Hightower] was like 'Collin, I'm going to pull you out of special teams,' and I was like 'no sir, I want to be in there, I want to show you I can do it,'" Johnson said. "Getting that special teams tackle on the opening kickoff, I felt super honored because that’s the first tackle of this new kickoff rule. It was super cool and I'm just going to keep growing."

Matt Eberflus' comments prove Collin Johnson is ahead of the game toward earning a roster spot

The Bears already have five-ish spots locked up at the wide receiver position on the 53-man roster in DJ Moore, Keenan Allen, Rome Odunze, Tyler Scott, and Velus Jones Jr. If another pass catcher in the room wants to claim a potential final spot in the room on the roster, it won't come from being an offensive weapon, although it'll help.

The best way for one of the other receivers to stand out is going to be by making an impact on special teams. On Thursday, we saw some of the players fighting to do so. Johnson, as we mentioned above, was eager to continue contributing on special teams, Dante Pettis and Deandre Carter shared punt return duties, and rookie John Jackson had two kickoff returns for 59 yards.

"To me, if you're in the backend of the roster, at linebacker, at receiver, or wherever those hot spots are, man the more you can do," head coach Matt Eberflus said . "You gotta be able to do a lot. If you're a four core guy playing on all special teams, and you're lighting it up, that's probably a good thing. To me, it's all competition."

With that logic in mind, it's easy to see why Johnson wanted to stay out there with the special teams unit throughout the night. He understands his best path to making the team comes that way and everything else he does on offense with the football in his hands is an added bonus. And man did he get a large bonus on Thursday. However, the work isn't done yet and Johnson will have to continue proving his worth to the team over the next few weeks of the preseason.

Related: Brett Rypien deals, Collin Johnson dazzles, and other takeaways from the Chicago Bears preseason opener