
The Washington Commanders snatched victory right out of the Bears jaws beating Chicago on a last play Hail Mary touchdown pass sending the 64,704 fans in attendance into a frenzy of complete joy and high fiving at the gridiron called Northwest Stadium.
Losing 15-12, all seemed lost, but quarterback Jayden Daniels had other ideas. At the Washington 48-yard line he took the snap and danced around in the pocket avoiding tacklers and giving his pass catchers a chance to get to the endzone. Once they were in place he rocketed the perfect pass 52 yards and as the ball descended the pile of players jumped up to try and either catch or deflect the ball.
Fortunately for the Commanders a Bears defender tipped the ball backwards into the endzone and right into the waiting arms of Noah Brown who cradled the ball in disbelief. It took a minute but once everyone took in what had happened the crowd burst into cheers and the Washington players, coaches and staff ran onto the field in every direction celebrating arguably the most unexpected and greatest victory in the Commanders short history.
The thrilling victory allowed the Commanders to live up to their slogan “Raise Hail” but in this case, a “Raise Hail Mary” and improve to (6-2) good enough for first place in the hotly contested NFC East Division race.
Bears quarterback and #1 2024 NFL draft pick Caleb Williams who had just engineered what he thought was the game-winning drive just stood on the sidelines in disbelief.
Williams, a local product who played at Gonzaga College High School in Washington D.C. was just as stunned as everyone else as the Commanders spoiled his homecoming.
Daniels, who was back in action after suffering a rib injury in the Carolina Panthers game, was 21 for 38 for 326 yards and one touchdown. As a dual threat quarterback he also rushed for 52 yards on eight carries.
Washington’s Brian Robinson Jr. led the rushing attack with 65 yards on 16 carries.
Wide receiver Terry McLaurin led the Commanders team with five receptions for 125 yards, and his 61-yard bomb catch set up a field goal. Tight end Zach Ertz caught seven passes for 77 yards.
Both defenses played well, and points were hard to come by.
Wahington’s first drive stalled out at the Bears eight-yard line. They settled for an Austin Seibert 27-yard field goal making the score 3-0 with 8:51 to go in the first quarter.
The Commanders got another successful field goal from Seibert increasing their lead to 6-0 with 1:04 to go in the first quarter as this drive ended at the Bears 12-yard line.
Same story the next time Washington got into the Redzone a stalled drive at the Bears nine-yard line but at least they had a 9-0 halftime lead.
Washington kept the kicks coming with a Seibert 47-yarder making the score 12-0 with 5:48 to go in the third quarter.
The Washington defense has been improving weekly and was looking to pitch a shutout but that went out the window when they let D’Andre Swift live up to his name as he swiftly burst down the sideline for a 56-yard scoring dash making the score 12-7 with 43 seconds to go in the third quarter.
The Bears later engineered their best drive of the day a 10 play 62-yard march ending with a Roschon Johnson one-yard touchdown run and then converted the two-point play making the score 15-12 setting up the exciting Washington finish.
Washington finished with 481 total yards compared to 307 for the Bears. They also had 23 first downs to 15 for Chicago.
Chicago won the ground game 202 yards to 168 for the Commanders.
Quan Martin led the defense with 11 tackles and Bobby Wagner was close behind with seven. The defense also registered three sacks and held Williams to under 140 yards passing.
Williams led Chicago in passing going 10 of 24 for 131 yards. He also rushed for 47 yards on nine carries. Swift was their top rusher with 129 yards on 18 carries and Rome Odunze was their leading receiver catching three passes for 41 yards in a losing effort for the (4-3) Bears.