High expectations follow being a high NFL draft pick. Halfway through their rookie seasons quarterbacks Caleb Williams and Jayden Daniels, the first two players selected in April’s draft, had lived up to their hype behind their often explosive offensive playmaking, raising the anticipation for their first meeting Sunday.Â
For three quarters, the matchup cut against those lofty expectations in some ways — and for the last quarter, became an instant classic that ended with the defining play of the 2024 NFL season so far.
By summoning offense that had been missing the first three quarters, Williams and the Chicago Bears rallied from a 12-point deficit to take a 15-12 lead against Washington with 23 seconds left, followed by a two-point conversion.
Given one final play to heave a pass into the end zone, Daniels — playing through a rib injury suffered only one week earlier — scrambled around to extend the play 12 seconds, each tick allowing his receivers to get farther downfield. Then he lofted a high-arching Hail Mary 65 yards in the air that was tipped at the goal line by a Bears defensive back and flipped perfectly into the arms of Commanders teammate Noah Brown for the game-winning touchdown.
Washington won 18-15 to improve to 6-2, while Chicago fell to 4-3 in one of the most improbable ways.Â
As seen in video widely circulated on X, before the final play Bears defensive back Tyrique Stevenson was seen talking with Commanders fans with his back to the play. When he ran into coverage, Stevenson leapt and tipped the pass — directly to Brown.
Daniels finished with 326 passing yards and that one, unforgettable touchdown. Williams, making a homecoming to the Washington D.C. area where he was raised, threw for 131 yards and ran for 41 more.
The shocking final completion was a stunning, big play to end a game that had produced few for much of the afternoon as Washington took a 9-0 halftime lead. A Commanders defense that had struggled to get stops during much of the season’s first two months held Williams, coming off of 530 combined passing yards and six touchdowns in consecutive wins the past two weeks, to just 33 yards passing and 29 rushing at the half.Â
Daniels, meanwhile, had produced a 61-yard completion and threw for more than 150 yards in the first half for the league’s second-best offense, in terms of average scoring. And yet Washington couldn’t turn its production into its usual touchdowns, settling for field goals instead.
Chicago rallied in the fourth quarter; of the Bears’ 10 longest plays, five came in the final quarter, with four coming off of Williams passes. Chicago even overcame a fullback fumble at the goal line that cost it a potential touchdown with 6:18 remaining.
The Bears didn’t hold the lead the entire game, until 23 seconds remained. And it appeared they would hold on as Daniels evaded tacklers on the final play, with well over half a field in front of him. Then the right arm that has produced sudden hope among a fan base that hasn’t seen a postseason berth since 2020, or a postseason victory since 2005, produced another highlight in a season full of them.
