In desperate need of a Hail Mary, Jayden Daniels once again delivers
The Washington Commanders stunned the Chicago Bears 18-15 courtesy of a last-second 52-yard, walk-off touchdown. As insane as the ending was, it was a fitting conclusion for the highly-anticipated matchup between the top two picks in the 2024 NFL Draft — Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams and Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels.
Amazingly, after trailing the entire game, Chicago held a 15-12 lead with 25 seconds remaining and heartbreak looked inevitable for the burgundy and gold. A 56-yard touchdown run by running back D’Andre Swift woke a previously dormant Bears offense while the defense kept Washington’s offense out of the endzone all afternoon.
On the final snap of the game, Bears cornerback Tyrique Stevenson had his back to the play — too consumed with taunting and trash-talking fans to realize he was missing in action. Eventually Stevenson turned around, saw the ongoing play and scrambled to get involved at the edge of the endzone. Stevenson all-out sprinted to the scrum, arriving just in time … to deflect the ball into the waiting hands of Commanders receiver Noah Brown for an improbable 52-yard game-winner.
Bedlam ensued. The home team’s sideline exploded onto the field. The packed stadium roared at a volume previously unthinkable. Players wandered around aimlessly amid the hysteria, not sure how to react to what they’d just witnessed. The latest chapter for the NFL’s feel-good team of the 2024 season delivered an absurd twist.
Daniels, who was a gametime decision after a rib injury knocked him out of the Carolina game one week earlier, finished with 326 yards in the air and another 52 yards on the ground. Oh, and one miracle touchdown completion to snap Chicago’s three-game winning streak.
“I thought we had a chance if we could get up the field some,” said head coach Dan Quinn. “Then it turns into Hail Mary time.”
In order to give the Commanders that chance, Daniels knew he needed to buy his pass catchers time to get into a position downfield to secure his desperate pass attempt. So what did he do? The athletic 23-year-old held onto the ball for an eternity (12.79 seconds) while scrambling for an insane 40.7 yards before launching the ball from his own 35-yard line. The rest is literally history.
The rookie on the other sideline was less stellar, completing just 10 of 24 passes for 131 yards and a 59.5 quarterback rating. Surprisingly, 95 of Williams’ 131 passing yards came during Chicago’s final two drives of the game. With roughly 10 minutes remaining, the USC product had completed just four of 16 passes for 36 yards — a jaw-dropping lack of production for the Heisman Trophy winner.
A once-beleaguered Commanders defense appears to be showing some signs of life, holding an opponent scoreless in the first half of consecutive games for the first time since 1997. With the win, Washington improves to 4-0 at home, which hasn’t been done since 2005. The victory also puts the franchise potentially on pace to win 11 games for the first time since 1991, a highly-memorable season that ended with a Super Bowl victory.